Leave
by Cadnobach
Summary: COMPLETE. Series 1. ELF. Lucas centric but all the cast are present. Sometimes it's not easy being a genius. Sometimes people expect too much. Sometimes they expect more than you have to give. Please R and R.
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone, if the start sounds familiar I did post up a little bit of this about two years ago but I've only just got around to continuing it and I've made some changes to this first chapter as well as extending it a little bit. Thanks to everyone who read and review when I originally posted it up. I don't use a beta editor since I like to get the chapters up as quickly as possible.

This is an Elf story about Lucas's past relationship with his father – not quite sure where it's going at the moment but somewhere in that direction. At this point no-one on seaQuest knows anything about Lucas's relationship with his father.

As always I own nothing that I write about and intend not copy write infringement.

**Chapter 1.**

Lucas sat and stared at the computer screen, and more specifically at the 'You have mail box.' There were lots of messages. Lots of junk mail, a couple of requests for help with various computer programmes. And there was the other one.

The message that held Lucas's attention so rigidly was from Juliana. Nothing strange there, they had been going out for almost three months now and it was a rare day when they didn't talk to each other on the inter-nex. Only the title of the e-mail was worrying – it contained the two words no man at sea wants to read – it said: 'Dear John.'

Lucas took a deep breath and clicked on the message. He scanned through it quickly almost believing that if his eyes did not rest for too long on any one word, it would make the message less real.

Phrases jumped out at him – 'I'm sorry...' 'It's not you, it's me...' 'Wolf-man...' 'Hope you won't be too mad at us...'

There was a knock on the door and without waiting for an answer Ben burst in. Lucas instinctively closed the window before spinning around to face his friend. Ben caught a glimpse of the action, but did his best to make sure Lucas didn't suspect it.

'The Captain sent me to find you.' Ben said, in his usual cheerful voice. 'You were supposed to be in a meeting in the ward room five minutes ago.'

'Damn!' Lucas cured looking at his watch. After searching for half a minute he found the paper work for the new programme the Captain wanted to talk to him about and hurried out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Ben caught the door just before it snapped shut and smiled. Something was bothering Lucas, and he was just the man to discover what. Looking both ways down the corridor, checking there was no one there to question his actions, Ben slipped into Mammal engineering.

He nudged the mouse and to his huge relief Ben found that Lucas had been so distracted he had forget to close down his inter-nex account. Perfect, this was just the opportunity Ben had been waiting for. He was bound to find something that would help him think of a practical joke in time for Lucas's sixteenth birthday.

But first, Ben couldn't resist a bit of snooping. He opened up the unread e-mail messages. Junk mail, junk mail, something a computer programme Ben had never even heard of, more junk mail. Didn't Lucas ever get any interesting messages?

He hit on the old e-mail button and as soon as he saw the senders name Ben knew he had hit the jackpot. Ben clicked on the message without checking the subject and opened it up – then he winced. Ouch – not even a computer nut like Lucas could think dumping someone by e-mail was a good idea. He read further down - 'Wolf-man' double ouch – dumped for your best friend? No wonder Lucas was distracted.

Ben absent-mindedly shut down the computer and stared at the aqua tube that ran along side the room. There was no doubt about it, Ben decided as he watched the rippling light, he was moral officer, Lucas couldn't be anything but depressed after getting news like that, it was up to him to cheer the kid up...

xxx

The next morning Ben knocked on the door to the Captains quarters and this time remembered that it was good manners to wait until you were invited in before entering. After a few moments the Captain called him in. Bridger, obviously fresh from the shower was still drying his hair with one towel and his only covering was a similar towel wrapped around his waist.

When he saw his visitor Bridger raised his eyebrows, 'been sent to the head master's office again, Lieutenant? What did you do this time?'

'As it happens, I here of my own free will.' Ben said, as if he always made appearance in the Captains quarters without Ford catching him in one of his scams.

Bridger looked sceptical.

Ben smiled, 'I was wondering if I could have...'

'No,' Bridger cut in, before Ben could say anymore. 'What ever it is, no.'

'Before you say anymore Captain, I have to tell you that what I'm asking for is not for my benefit, it's for Lucas,' the moral officer protested.

This caught Bridger's attention. 'If Lucas needs something, he can ask me himself, he doesn't need to go through the supply officer,' he pointed out.

'The thing is,' Ben said, choosing his words carefully, 'Lucas doesn't know he needs it yet.'

Bridger sat down with a sigh – convinced now that it was going to be one those conversations. 'Let's start with the basics, what is it that Lucas doesn't know he need yet?'

'Shore leave,' Ben said.

'Let me guess, shore leave that you will volunteer to accompany him on?' Bridger said, sarcastically.

Ben was about to protest. 'Never mind,' the Captain said, dismissing the subject with a wave of his hand, 'Lucas has already been granted shore leave – he's going to stay with Juliana and Wolf-man for a few days.' Bridger watched as Ben visibly flinched at this piece of news.

'I don't think Lucas will want to go there,' Ben said.

'Moral officers intuition?' Bridger asked.

Ben hesitated for a second. 'If I tell you something, it can't leave this room,' He said.

Bridger nodded, and set the towel he had been drying his hair with own on his desk. Ben told him about the e-mail and after hearing the story Nathan Bridger couldn't but agree Lucas would not want to see Juliana or Wolf-man very soon.

'This needs to be handled with tact,' he told Ben Krieg with a warning note.

'I was thinking that maybe me and some of the other guys should take him out for a few days – somewhere he couldn't fail to enjoy himself,' Ben suggested, 'We could say it's for his birthday, we won't mention Juliana or anything like that.'

Nathan held out his hand, 'The broacher?' he requested.

Ben smiled and handed the Captain a disk. He pushed the disk into the drive on the computer. Bridger watched the advert on the video. One thing he was sure about, no teenage boy could go to a place like that and not enjoy himself.

'You don't think Lucas is a bit young for a place like that?' Bridger asked.

'It's probably not as good as it looks.' Ben reassured the Captain. 'It's just somewhere for sailors to let they're hair down while they are on leave – we'll have a drink, chat up girls, eat illegal food – it will be fun.'

'Lucas is too young to drink.' Bridger pointed out.

Ben's grin widened. 'Not there – well, it's no more illegal than anything else they do there anyway. But, of course we will all make sure that he doesn't drink too much.'

The Captain didn't look very sure. 'Who were you thinking about taking with you on this little expedition?'

'Tim, Miguel, Shan,' Ben saw the Captains doubtful expression, 'and Ford of course,' he added with a sigh.

Bridger nodded. 'You are all granted leave for the weekend. But, and pay attention to this part Krieg, if anything happens to Lucas, anything at all, you will all be held personally responsible.'

Ben thought about this. 'How responsible exactly?' he asked.

Bridger smiled. 'I wouldn't suggest any of you come back to the boat.'

xxx

'Nathan Bridger, are you out of your mind?'

Bridger spun around to face the door of his quarters wrapping the towel more securely around his hips. It is not easy for a man to look dignified when he is caught by an attractive woman while wearing nothing but a towel.

'Sorry, Kristen, I didn't hear you knock,' he walked over to the door and held it open for her, 'perhaps we could talk about this when I'm dressed?'

She didn't look in the least bit embarrassed. 'This is important Nathan – far more important than your modesty! For heaven's sake man I'm a Doctor I'm sure you haven't got anything I haven't seen before.' Kristen walked over to the chair by his desk and sat down.

The Captain sighed and shut the door. Grabbing his uniform from the wardrobe he walked into his bathroom and, unless Kristen was very mush mistaken, locked the door behind him.

He emerged a few minutes later fully dressed and looking somewhat more capable of dealing with whatever had put his chief scientist into such a temper.

'What can I do for you Kristen?' he asked, taking the seat opposite her.

'You can explain to me just why you are allowing that idiot to take an impressionable boy to "Paradise Dome".'

'He is sixteen, we can't think of him as a boy for ever,' Nathan began.

'Nathan,' Kristen said, in her most reasonable voice, 'that place is not suitable for Lucas. Do you have the least little idea what goes on there?'

'Kreig did show me a disc,' he said, 'it seems pretty harmless…'

'Harmless? Then all I can say is that the disc must have been extremely censored! I should have thought everyone had heard the stories about that place.'

Bridger was tempted to ask her about those stories, but he had the uncomfortable feeling that he would end up more embarrassed than the doctor. He settled for saying 'Lucas will be perfectly safe. Ford is going with them.'

'Thank God for small mercy's!'

A thought suddenly presented itself to Bridger for his inspection. 'How do you know about the trip anyway?'

'Darwin told me,' she said.

'Darwin? Who told him?'

'Apparently he was in the aqua-tube when Kreig was talking you into it.'

'Sometimes I wonder if it was a good idea to teach him to talk!' Bridger muttered. 'Still, I've said they can go, I can hardly change my mind now.'

Kristen sighed, 'he just seems so young! And it's not as if he's had much of a childhood as it is.'

'Don't worry about him. He'll go out, have a little bit too much to drink, talk to girls, eat things he shouldn't and they'll have him back here first thing on Sunday morning no different to how he was when he left.'

'Shouldn't you get in touch with his father to see if he is willing for his son to leave the ship? You are supposed to be inform him of Lucas's movements aren't you?'

'Considering he hasn't answered any of the messages I've left for him over the last six months, I don't really see the point any more.'

xxx

Benjamin Kreig was having trouble with a new concept.

'You don't want to go?'

Lucas didn't look away from the screen. 'Not really, anyway I've got a tone of work to do here, not to mention all the projects I'm consulting on. I think I'll just stay here and try to clear some of the backlog if it's all the same to you, Ben.'

'But this is The Pleasure Dome! Everyone wants to go to the Pleasure Dome!'

Lucas still didn't take his eyes off the screen. 'It's just not my kind of thing,' Lucas told him absently.

'Girls dancing around poles aren't your sort of thing?'

Lucas was about to say 'Not really' again when the small part of his brain that was paying attention to the Lieutenant kicked into gear and told him that the conversation would get a lot more complicated if he gave Ben the wrong idea.

'I just don't have time at the moment,' he said instead, 'everyone wants something done at the moment. The Captain, Dr. Westphalen, Ford, Crocker, my father, everyone.'

One name jumped out from the list for Kreig, he'd hardly ever heard Lucas mention his father. 'You're doing work for your father?'

'Just helping out with a few odds and ends he doesn't have time to do himself, nothing much,' Lucas told him, 'so when are we going to this Dome thing?'

Ben didn't notice the conversation change of direction. 'I knew the girls would change your mind!' he told Lucas, 'we are offically on leave as of tomorrow. You get packed tonight – these are going to be the best few days of your life!'

Westphalen and Bridger were there to see the party into a launch. Everyone was there in plenty of time, all except Lucas. By the time they were due to leave Ben Krieg was practically jumping up and down in excitement.

Ford cast a long suffering glance at the Captain who smiled at his XO. He patted the Commander on the shoulder, 'It's going to be a long few days.' Ford nodded in agreement.

When Lucas finally hurried up to the launch he was carrying an old hold all and his lap top case.

'You want to bring your lap top?' Krieg said.

'I just have a few bits of work that I need to finish…' he began, but Kreig took the lap top case out of his hand and handed it to the Captain.

'This is not a work trip – you are going to enjoy this weekend if it kills me! It won't hurt to leave your projects behind for a few days.'

Lucas turned to the Captain but the older man shock his head. 'As much as it hurts me to say it Kreig is right. You need to escape from your work not take it with you. Go. Have a good time. Everything will still be here when you get back.'

Between them Kristen and the Captain got everyone in the launch and away from the ship within half an hour of when they were supposed to leave.

'If anything happens to Lucas, I will have their scalps,' Kristen told Bridger. He smiled. 'And your too,' she added. His smile faded a little.

To be continued...

xxx

Well, that's all for now, any comments welcome. Please review.

I'll be updating this as and when I have time, but the next chapter should be up relatively soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter.

Don't panic if one of the minor characters looks a bit like a Mary Sue for a few lines – keep reading and you'll see that she's not – I promise.

* * *

**Chapter 2.**

'He doesn't look entirely enthusiastic,' Ford commentated as they piloted the launch away from the boat.

The other men turned to look at the teenager. He had his earphones on, his eyes closed and he'd wedged himself into a corner. As they set the course to the Dome Lucas appeared to have fallen asleep.

'He looks exhausted,' Tim said.

'That's what happens if you spend all your time playing computer games on the boats main computer,' Ford told him.

'Playing video games,' Tim nodded, 'and working on the vo-corder, and helping Dr. Westphalen and the rest of the science team with their experiments, and fixing the computers and working out ways for the whole system to run more smoothly, and…'

'OK, Tim, we get it, the kid does work hard sometimes.'

Tim sighed to himself. The idea that Lucas "Sometimes" worked hard didn't sit well with him. Tim O'Neill had spent too long in an unappreciated job not to wonder if there wasn't more to it than that. Fixing the computers was like working the comms station: no one really noticed your job unless you weren't doing it. Yes, Lucas could be an idiot sometimes, but he was only fifteen, well, sixteen as of today.

'Enough talk about working hard!' Ben cut in, 'we're hear to enjoy ourselves.'

'You are here to enjoy yourself,' Ford told him, 'I'm here to make sure that Lucas gets back to the ship in one piece.'

'Did Dr. Westphalen tell you that?' Shan laughed.

'Dr. Westphalen, and the Captain, and Commander Hitchcock, and Chief Crocker and…'

'Katie told you that?' Ben asked, 'doesn't she trust me?'

'No, Ben, she knows you too well to do that.'

'Hey!' Ben said, nudging Miguel in the shoulder in mock annoyance, 'I'll have you know that Katie has a very high opinion of me.'

He saw their sceptical looks. 'She wouldn't have married me unless she thought I was pretty damn brilliant.'

'Yes, Ben, but she divorced you when she came to her senses,' Miguel said. Ben laughed good naturedly along with the rest of them.

They were silent for a few moments all enjoying the feeling that was settling over them of being on leave and free to have a bit of fun.

The quiet was broken by Ford, who hadn't relaxed into the feeling the same way the other men had, 'Krieg?'

'Yes, Jonathan?'

Ford knew he would look like an idiot if he protested about the use of his first name, they were on leave, the man could call him whatever he wanted, so he stayed with the thought that had prompted him to speak. 'What exactly do you have planned for this weekend?'

'Fun.'

It seemed like a very ominous word to the others. 'Could you be a little bit more specific?' Ford pressed.

'What, specifically, would you like to know?'

'Lets start with how many laws do you intend to break?'

'None!' Ben protested.

They all looked at him sceptically.

'It just so happens that the Dome is far enough into international waters that no countries laws apply to it. There are no laws to break.'

'That isn't a comforting thought, Krieg,' Ford told him with a dark look.

Ben decided to give the Commander a break. 'I'm not planning anything too wild,' he told them, but their looks showed their disbelief.

'I haven't even booked tickets into the best areas of the dome,' he protested, 'I mean, the kid's just spent the last few months on a UEO sub with no girls his own age. I don't want him to have a heart attack!'

'Ben, details, what have you got planned,' Ford demanded.

'We'll have a few drinks, without letting Lucas have too many, of course, then we'll watch some of the girls dance on tables, eat some illegal food, have a few laughs, nothing that will cause Kristen to scalp anyone.'

'You'd better be right, Krieg, because if she comes after me I will be pointing her firmly in your direction.'

It was a few hours later and they were over half way to the dome. Without explanation Krieg went to the back of the launch and opened up one of the storage compartments. The others, all except Lucas, who was still wedged into his corner of the launch asleep, exchanged wary glances.

The supply officer came back to them a few moments later holding several bottles and a bottle opener. 'It's time to get the party started!' He called into the back of the launch for Lucas to wake up but the headphones appeared to have drowned out the words because the teenager didn't react.

Working on opening one of the bottles Ben nodded to Tim to wake Lucas up. Tim O'Neill wondered how he was always the one sent to wake the boy – it was never a very easy or very agreeable task. He put his hand on his shoulder and shock Lucas gently. Still half asleep Lucas tried to shrug his hand off his shoulder.

'Wake up, Lucas.'

'It's there anyone else on the boat who can fix it?' Lucas asked sleepily, as he yawned and opened his eyes. Looking around he seemed to have trouble remembering where he was, but the details soon came back to him.

'Another all nighter?' Tim asked, as Lucas took his earphones off.

Lucas smiled a little, he knew that Tim was the only one who really guessed how often he did work all the way through the night. That was one of the things about comms officers, it was very difficult to keep things hidden from them. Lucas had answered the messages Tim relayed to him in the middle of the night too wide awake too often. Instead of trying to lie he shrugged, 'I slept some.'

Tim made no comment on just how much he thought that "some" meant. 'Ben's starting the party,' he told him instead and led the way back to the front of the launch.

'And here's the birthday boy!' Ben announced as he saw Lucas come through the hatch that separated the front of the launch from the storage area at the back.

Lucas raised an eyebrow, but accepted the bottle his friend offered him. The liquid inside was purple, Lucas gingerly sniffed the open top as Ben passed the rest of the bottles around the group. Most of them looked suspiciously at the coloured liquids, each one a different shade.

'Do I want to know what is in this?' Shan asked

Ben gave him an innocent look, 'probably not.'

He raised his bottle in the air, 'to Lucas.'

The others raised their bottles too and toasted Lucas. The teenager blushed and raised his bottle in silent response.

He took a swig out of the bottle to cover his embarrassment and then tried not to cough as the rough liquid slid down his throat, the other men caught the checked cough and laughed good naturedly at him. When they lifted their bottles to their own lips they took small careful sips.

The rest if the trip passed quickly as they teased and laughed at each other, even the Commander joining in as the few small sips he had taken from the bottle relaxed his nerves slightly. If the others noticed that Lucas was a little bit quiet they put it down to the boy spending his birthday with men who were all several years older than him.

Soon the dome was visible before them. From the outside it appeared to be nothing more than a black shell on the ocean floor. As they docked and the doors to the launch opened the seaQuest crew blinked at the sight before them. They walked out into a huge circular room. One side of the circle was filled with hatches where launches could dock but the other side was covered with neon lights displays in every colour that could be created. They flashed and flickered all out of time with each other, each one determined to attract customers to the part of the dome they advertised.

Half way across the room there was some sort of battered reception area that you had to pass through before you could enter into the entertainment areas of the dome. Ben hoisted his bag onto his shoulder and led the way across to the desk.

They heard the voice when they were half way there. 'Lucas?'

Lucas looked over his shoulder and saw the woman approaching him.

'This is all I need,' he muttered. As Lucas plastered a pleasantly surprised expression onto his face the other men took in the full picture of the woman who was walking up to them. The dress was the first thing that caught their attention or rather the lack of one – there would have been more material in bathing suit.

At first glance she appeared to be in her teens but as she came closer to them those members of the party who were thinking clearly enough to remember their manners looked up to her eyes and the faint creases at the corners put her in her late thirties or older. They had little chance to take in much beyond the high heels and hour glass figure before she was right in front of them and hugging Lucas.

When she finally released him she held him at arms length for several seconds. 'I haven't seen you in years,' she told him, 'you're all grown up!'

Lucas tried not to blush and hoped that, against all geological probability, the ground really would open up and swallow him.

'How long has it been?' the woman asked him.

'About nine or ten years,' Lucas hazarded.

'So Stanford wasn't the only thing he started early…' Miguel's comment was only just on the edge of hearing, but it did remind Lucas that his friends were still there.

Taking the chance to put some space between himself and the woman Lucas introduced his friends to her. In turn she was introduced to everyone as "Brandi".

'So, Brandi,' Ben cleared his throat, 'how do you know Lucas?'

'Oh, we've known each other for years! That reminds me, I'll have to have words with your father – he should have told me that you were bringing guests with you!'

'Dr. Wolenczak is here?' Ford asked.

'That's right,' Brandi told them cheerfully, 'he arrived this morning.'

'Brandi, we aren't actually here with my father,' Lucas hinted.

'That's even better! It will be a surprise!' the tone of Lucas's voice going completely over her head.

She sounded so happy with the idea that Lucas didn't have the heart to tell her he would much rather his father didn't know they were there. There wouldn't have been much point anyway – the facility wasn't so big that he could hope to hide for the entire weekend without someone telling his father he that they had seen him.

Brandi looped her arm through Lucas's and walked them the rest of the way to reception, once there she left them and walked into the staff area and the offices behind.

'Is there anything you want to tell us, Lucas?' Ben asked, as soon as she was outside hearing distance.

'Not really, Ben,' Lucas leaned tiredly against the reception desk and pushed his fringe out of his eyes hoping, against all his prior knowledge of his friends, that they would drop the subject.

'Oh no, you just can't leave us wondering how you've been coming to this place for years, we want some answers,' Miguel protested.

'My father designed some of the computer programmes they use here, security, things like that. I came with him when he installed it,' Lucas said, as casually as he could.

'It didn't sound like, um, Brandi, had only met you once,' Tim pointed out.

'Yea, well, the system had a few bugs in it, it broke down a lot. I came to help fix them.'

'But, if this was years ago…' Tim let his voice trail off, 'just how old were you when you used to come here?'

'Young enough not to understand that this was one project my mother didn't need to know about,' Lucas said.

'You told your mother?'

'I was about six at the time, Ben,' Lucas pointed out, 'it was just another place with computer programmes in it.'

Brandi prevented any further questions by re-appearing from the offices with brightly coloured plastic wrist bands. 'These will give you access to whatever areas of the dome you want to visit,' she told them, handing the bands to the rest of the crew before slipping one of the bands over Lucas's wrist and fastening it in place herself.

'Gold passes?' Ford queried to Krieg under his breath so Brandi couldn't hear them, 'I thought you said we would be restricted to certain areas of the dome?'

'I think we've been upgraded,' Krieg said. He saw the Commanders concerned expression and added, 'I don't think we need to worry about Lucas being too young anymore, do we?'

Ford wasn't sure he was comfortable with the way this leave was going. He had the distinct feeling that it wouldn't matter how many times Lucas had visited the place – if anything happened he would still be the one explaining it to the Captain.

Tim was more worried about the news that Lucas's father was there. He could remember putting a call through to Dr. Wolenczak for the Captain and being told that the good doctor was too busy working to visit his son on his birthday. All the comms officer could do was hope that Lucas didn't know that the Captain had tried to arrange for him to spend some time with his father or that he had been turned down so his father could visit this place.

The other three weren't quite sure what to think – they were still trying to deal with the fact that they would probably find the Pleasure Dome more shocking than their young friend.

Their rooms had been upgraded too and when Brandi showed them to the door she gave Lucas a peck on the cheek and said she hoped to see them all in the Blue Bar later. Her leaving was the crew's cue to start the interrogation.

They all followed Lucas into his room but before they could ask him anything the teen spoke first. 'Guys, I know you want answers but we are only going to be here for two days. Do you really want to spend your leave asking me questions that could just as easily be answered when we get back to seaQuest?'

This did cause the other men to pause and consider their options.

'Why don't we go down to the bar and have a drink?' Lucas asked, wiping the smudge of lipstick off his check.

Whether it was Lucas's logic or the knowledge that it was almost impossible to pry information out of the teenager once he decided that he wasn't going to talk was uncertain but a few minutes later all the men had dropped their bags in their rooms and were walking towards the bar.

If Lucas seemed to be looking over his shoulder a lot they put it down to the boy staring at the people who were walking past them – mostly women and mostly barely clothed. The Blue Bar was, well, very blue. All the lights were low and tinted blue so the whole room looked like it was made out of twilight. Platforms some three foot high were dotted around the room each one supporting a pole and a girl, each one was lit by more blue lights.

The found an empty table and sat down. A waitress appeared carrying a tray of blue drinks. She one down in front of each of the men. They all looked at Ben and he took his wallet out with a sigh, 'I'll get the first round, shall I?'

But the waitress shook her head and walked away. Ben shrugged and put his wallet back in his pocket. If they didn't want him to pay for the drinks he wasn't going to argue. Ford was suspicious – people didn't just give you free drinks for no reason. He looked to Lucas; as much as Ford would never have admitted it out loud the boy did know more about the place than any of the others.

'It's not a bribe, Commander, Brandi probably ordered them for us,' Lucas said, catching Ford's expression.

Ford didn't see any choice but to accept the drinks since the woman obviously knew Lucas, but he had hoped to find a way to put himself and Lucas, if not the others, on milder or alcohol free drinks for most of the night. As it was he planned to keep the one drink going for most of the night. If he knew the men with him, someone was going to need a clear enough head to explain something to whoever was in charge by the end of the night.

Lucas's seat meant that he had his back to a large part of the room. He sat sideward on the chair, scanning the room and trying to look relaxed. After a while he seemed satisfied that he had seen everyone in the room and he turned his attention back to his friends.

Another round of drinks had arrived and Ben was working hard trying to chat up the waitress who had brought them. The girl, who looked to be in her late teens, smiled at him but didn't say a word.

'Give up it, Ben,' Lucas laughed, 'the waitresses aren't allowed to talk to the customers.'

'Why not?' Miguel, who had also tried to talk to the girl, asked.

'Probably in case they tell you what they think of those old lines you use!' Lucas said. They laughed again, fully relaxing for the first time in months with the help of the second glass of blue liquid.

Ben was in the middle of a story about how the exact same line had worked for him when he was on leave in Sydney four years ago, the others laughing disbelievingly, when another voice interrupted.

'So, this is what the UEO thinks is such a good use of your time, Lucas?'

To be continued…

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I hope you like the way this story is heading. I'll update again as soon as I can. Any comments are welcome – please do review.

Cadi.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter.

As always I don't use a beta reader. There are as few mistakes as possible but any that are left are my own.

* * *

**Chapter 3.**

The men sitting around the table looked up. None of them had seen Lucas's father before but the more sober of them put one and one together and very easily made Dr. Wolenczak.

Ford put down the drink he was nursing and stood up. He offered his hand to Dr. Wolenczak but the man ignored him. The commander let his hand drop back down to his side. 'Commander Ford, XO on seaQuest. Lucas is currently on shore leave,' Ford said, with excessive calm, 'what he does with that time is nothing to do with the UEO.'

'Next I suppose you will tell me it is nothing to do with his father either?' Dr. Wolenczak snapped.

Ben stood up at this. 'It's Lucas's birthday – we brought him hear to celebrate. That's what kids are supposed to do on their birthdays. They shouldn't turn sixteen in a Nuclear sub.'

Dr Wolenczak cast a dismissing look at Ben, 'I am perfectly aware of my son's date of birth,' he said coldly, 'and I am quite capable of deciding upon the best place for my son to spend his time.'

Ben would have said more, but Lucas laid a restraining hand on his arm. He looked down at Lucas and saw in his eyes that the teenager would not forgive his friend if he said more. Ben sat back down and tried to keep his tongue in check, a task made all the more difficult by Dr. Wolenczak's self satisfied expression.

Ford saw none of what was passing between Ben and Lucas and saw no reason not to respond. 'As Lucas's guardian aboard the seaQuest, Captain Bridger is well within his rights to grant Lucas shore leave.'

'And I am quite within my rights to have my son spend those shore leaves with me, Commander.' He turned his attention to Lucas who rose from his seat without a word to his friends and made to follow his father. Dr. Wolenczak walked away confident enough in his son's obedience that he did not check to see if Lucas was following him.

When Lucas would have followed him he was called back by Ben. He didn't meet his friends eyes. 'You guys have a good time. My father's right, I should go and spend a bit of time with him.'

'Lucas…?' Ben began.

Lucas did look into his friends eyes then but Ben couldn't read the expression there. He didn't know what else to say. What could he say? It was obvious that something was wrong between Lucas and his father and the doctor hadn't seemed too thrilled to see his son. But everything else was just guess work – nothing you could pin down firmly enough to make an accusation. There wasn't even enough there to ask Lucas if… and that was the problem, ask Lucas what?

Knowing that Ben couldn't ask the question that was in the back of several of the men's minds and guessing that Lucas wouldn't answer it if he did, Ford spoke up, 'Just… just leave your pal on, Lucas. And get in touch if you need anything.'

Lucas nodded and walked away from the table in the direction his father had taken a few moments earlier.

Silence descended on the table for several minutes. Ben finally broke it – 'that man gives me the creeps.'

'That man is one of the best scientists in the UEO,' Ford corrected him, but they could all tell that the commander was only correcting Ben out of habit. Ford tried to tell himself that he was being paranoid but he wasn't quite able to shake the same feeling as Ben had confessed to. The commander would be the first one to admit that he wasn't a close friend with the boy, but the relationship he had seen with his father made him uneasy.

'He still gives me the creeps,' Ben said.

'Their relationship does seem a bit strained,' Tim admitted.

'Then maybe it will do Lucas good to get some time to spend with his father,' Ford said, trying to convince himself as much as the others.

'It'll give them time to get to know each other better,' Miguel agreed.

'And they're both computer geeks so they should have lots to talk about,' Shan added.

'Right,' said Ford.

'Yeah,' said Ben, still not convinced.

'And this Leave was supposed to get him away from computers for a few days,' Tim said.

'On the other hand, it's good that his father is actually going to spend some time with him…' Ford hazarded.

They were all silent for a few more minutes. 'The other thing to consider is…' Miguel hesitated until he was sure that he had everyone's attention, '… he did tell us to enjoy ourselves tonight.'

Ben told himself that they only had two nights in the Dome, Lucas wouldn't want them to sit around worrying about him. 'Actually, when we were on our way here I saw this neon sign saying…'

* * *

Lucas followed behind his father until they reached his room, Brandi having been helpful enough to tell Lawrence Wolenczak where his son was staying. All the way there, through the corridors and lifts that transported them around the Dome, neither had tried to start a conversation. When the door closed behind them Lawrence finally spoke. He looked around the room and didn't turn to face his son when he asked, 'Did the great Captain Bridger run out of work for you?'

'No, Dad,' Lucas didn't offer any further information.

'And I don't suppose you've finished those calculations I sent you last Wednesday?'

'No, Dad.'

'But you still think this is a good use of your time?'

Lucas stayed silent.

'An answer?' Lawrence prompted.

'No, Dad.'

'Then you'll explain the logic behind your decision to come here?'

Lucas hesitated.

'Sooner rather then later, Lucas!'

'Ben and the others…' Lucas began to try to frame an explanation but Lawrence cut him off as he failed to find what he had been looking for.

'Where's your lap top?'

'I left it on seaQuest,' Lucas admitted.

'So you had no intention of doing any work at all while you are here?' Lawrence demanded.

'We're going back to seaQuest the day after tomorrow. I didn't think-'

'No, you didn't think, did you?'

'I can make up the time, Dad, it's only two days…' Lucas trailed into silence as his father finally turned to look at him.

'Most people,' Lawrence said, with icy calm, 'wouldn't want to waste their genius even for two days!'

Lucas looked down at the blue and green swirl of patterns on the carpet. He heard his father sigh and walk towards him. 'We can use my room,' the doctor said as he opened the door and walked out into the corridor, assuming that his son would follow him. Lucas did just as was expected of him, following his father and catching the door of his father's room before it could close behind Lawrence.

'I had hoped that living with the military would have taught you some discipline,' Lawrence said disappointment ringing every word.

Lucas stayed silent again, knowing that excuses would do him no good. There was a lap top computer set up on a desk in one corner of the room. Lucas walked over to it and switched it on. He sat down on the chair set before the table and watched the computer boot up. He could hear his father moving about behind him. Lucas was in the process of locating the files he was working on for his father when Lawrence walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder.

The teenager tried not to think about his father's presence. Lawrence reached across his son and put a pile of paper on the desk. 'These are the new data sets, if you start by inputting them you won't be duplicating any of the work you actually decided to before this holiday of yours.'

Lucas just nodded. He thought his father would walk away then, but Lawrence stayed looking over Lucas's shoulder until his son opened up the right files and started to input some of the new data.

After a few minutes Lawrence was apparently satisfied that his son was working hard enough to meet his expectations. 'I'll be back later,' with nothing more than that Lucas's father left him.

As the door closed Lucas let out a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding. Running a hand through his hair he leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling for several moments. He let his eye lids fall closed as he felt his heart rate return to normal and his breathing even out, it would have been so nice to just sit back like that and catch up on some part of the sleep he had missed over the last few nights. The couple of hours he had caught on the launch had taken the edge off for long enough for his to enjoy a few hours with his friends earlier, but they hadn't been enough to wipe out the tracks of the all too many all night sessions he's worked recently.

Lucas reluctantly let his neck straighten so he was once more looking at the screen. Rubbing a hand over his eyes he did his best to focus on the figures. No point putting the work off, his father would expect it done by the time he got back. Soon Lucas was absorbed in the numbers he was working with, but before they took complete hold of his brain someone who was listening very closely might have heard him say under his breath; 'Come on Lucas, you don't want to anymore of a disappointment than you have to…'

* * *

Ben, Miguel and Shan tried to walk in a straight line. It wasn't easy; especially since each one was relying on the other two to steer. They were at just that stage of drunkenness where they were sober enough to know they needed support to stay upright but still too drunk to recognise that another drunk wasn't the best person to latch onto.

Tim and Ford, still sober, walked along behind them. It had been an interesting night and it had gone a lot better than Ford had thought it might. Everyone was still in one, albeit in some cases a drunken, piece. Nothing too outrageous had happened – at least nothing he would end up explaining to the captain when he got back. All in all Ford was happy – he just needed to drop the rest into their rooms and check on Lucas and his work for the day was done.

The first part of the task was easily accomplished and the three drunken sailors were soon deposited in their rooms to sleep themselves peacefully into their hangovers. Ford wasn't looking forward to the next part. One side of him insisted that he should leave the boy and his father together, that it wasn't his place to interrupt. The other side of him remembered the rather vivid threats the Captain and Doctor Westphalan had made. A strong instinct for self preservation let the latter side win.

Ford knocked on the teenagers door, not really expecting the boy to be in there, but guessing it was the best place to start. There was no answer.

'Maybe his father took him to one of the other bars?' Tim suggested, walking up behind the commander.

The Commander nodded – he had no inclination to search through the whole Dome for the teenager. He took out his pal to contact Lucas but before he could say anything into the tiny machine they both heard something very familiar. The walls of the rooms must have been thin because the curses were only slightly muffled both Tim and Ford recognised the curser.

They went to the door opposite the bedroom Lucas was using and knocked on the cheap plastic. There was no answer, after a few moments Ford knocked again.

'It's open,' came the distracted reply.

Ford tried the handle and led the way into the room. Lucas sat before the keyboard typing away and didn't look up when they entered. The two officers stood a little way into the room and waited for Lucas to recognise their presence.

It was soon apparent that he was too involved in his calculations to even remember that they were there.

'Lucas?' Ford said, trying to bring the world back to reality.

No reaction. Lucas continued to frown at the number on the screen and type rapidly. Ford looked in exasperation at Tim.

The comms officer smiled slightly. 'Lucas, someone just hacked into seaQuest's mainframe.'

This drew Lucas's immediate attention. 'What?' he spun around on the swivel chair so he was facing the two men.

Ford shock his head but didn't try to explain, 'Is your father around?' he asked.

'He, um, just stepped out to grab some food and stuff; he'll be back before long…' Lucas explained.

Ford took a seat on the sofa next to the desk, 'we'll wait and keep you company until he gets back.'

This, Lucas told himself, was why it was easier to tell the truth all the time. 'Um, he'll probably be a while… You really don't need to wait…'

'It's no problem,' Ford assured him. Tim took a seat on the sofa next to Ford.

Lucas looked from his friends to the computer and then back again to his friends. 'I really should get on with this…' he hinted.

'What exactly is this?' Tim asked, glancing at the screen and finding himself unable to even understand what calculations were for let alone how to do them.

'Just a few calculations.'

'What sort of calculations?' Ford pressed.

'Nothing important, just something my Dad was working on. I figured I'd help him out while he was fetching the food, that's all,' Lucas tried to shrug the work off, but he doubted that he pulled it off – he was too tired to be convincing about anything.

'I'm sure Dr. Wolenczak won't mind if you have a break,' Tim said, 'you look exhausted.'

'Too many late nights playing computer games,' Lucas said with a self-conscious smile, not realising that he was echoing Ford's earlier accusations.

Ford and Tim exchanged glances.

Lucas fidgeted with a pen, clicking the top on and off. It seemed they were going to wait around whatever he did. 'Do you guys want a soda or something?' he asked moving to the mini-bar.

When Lawrence Wolenczak arrived back in his room he was surprised to hear laughing as he opened the door. Peering in he saw Lucas sitting on the sofa with two of the seaQuest crew, what were their names again? It didn't matter anyway, they were not important.

'Lucas?'

The laughter ended abruptly. Ford and Tim stood up to meet Lawrence but his attention was all on his son. 'Lucas?' he asked again.

'Commander Ford and Lieutenant O'Neill just dropped by to say goodnight,' Lucas said, getting to his feet as well.

Lawrence barely glanced at the other two men. 'Goodnight,' the dismissal was clear and there was very little either of them could say against it – after all they were in the man's bedroom.

They quickly said their good nights to Lucas and left the room, Ford reminding Lucas one last time that he should remember to keep his pal on in case anyone needed to get in touch with him. Lucas nodded his agreement and wished his friends good night in return. The door closing behind them sounded very loud in the silent room.

'Did you ever intend to do any work after I left or did you stop the moment the door closed behind me?' Lawrence asked, walking over to the computer to check for himself how much progress had been made in his absence.

Lucas watched his father scroll through the calculations in the open window. The teenager knew that, even with the time Ford and Tim had distracted him for, he had made more progress on the task than one of his father's technicians at his lab would have in twice the time. But he wasn't some lab tech, he was his father's son and – naturally his father would expect more from him.

Lucas heard Lawrence sigh and mutter something under his breath, than he asked more loudly. 'How long will it take you to finish?'

The teenager ran a hand through his hair and tried to work out how much time he was going to have. If he kept to the minimum hours of sleep… 'The figures you sent me a few days ago should be ready by next Wednesday, these ones by the end of next week,' Lucas said.

Lawrence didn't look overly impressed. 'I suppose that will have to do then,' he made no effort to hide the disappointment in his voice. 'Do I need to supervise you or do you think you can work for a few hours without inviting half of seaQuest into the room?'

Lawrence left and Lucas returned to his work, stifling a yawn behind one hand.

* * *

Ford switched the vid-link in his room on and checked his watch. As the digits turned the hour he put the call into the Captain. It was patched straight through and a second later it was picked up by Bridger. Even as he appeared on the screen the Captain was scanning his XO's face for any sign that might mean something was wrong.

'Captain,' Ford greeted him, 'Doctor,' he added as Kristen Westphalen appeared over Bridger's shoulder.

'Commander, do you have anything to report?' Bridger asked. Damn it but Ford was hard to read.

'Everything is fine, sir.'

'Where is Lucas?' Ford could see Dr. Westphalen trying to peer around the room. 'I thought you and Lucas were going to share, you didn't let him room with Ben, did you?'

'We were assigned single rooms, Captain,' Ford said, making it clear just who he was reporting to. Kristen sent him a look that made it equally clear just what she thought of that. 'But, I've just spoken to Lucas, he's fine, he's…' Ford wasn't sure how he had landed this detail.

'He's what?' Bridger asked as Ford's voice trailed off.

'He's spending some time with his father.'

'Dr. Wolenczak is there?'

'Yes, sir,' Ford didn't want to tell tales to the Captain, what Lucas did was his own concern, on the other hand the Captain was the boys guardian. He decided to wait and see how to conversation progressed.

'That does make things a little bit more complicated…' Bridger said, apparently to himself.

'Sir?'

'We are being ordered out of the area. No details have come through yet, but it seems that our presence is required near the Trewfori islands. I'll give you the co-ordinates and we'll meet your launch near the Dome, get everyone there as soon as possible,' Bridger hesitated then, 'It would be a pity to take Lucas if he is spending time with his father. I suppose we could leave him with his father and pick him back up in a few weeks…?'

To be continued…

* * *

I hope you like the way this story is heading. I'll update again as soon as I can. Any comments are more than welcome – please do review.

Cadi.


	4. Chapter 4

Many thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I still don't own anyone in the stories.

* * *

**Chapter 4.**

Ford hesitated. Was it really his place to interfere? Bridger appeared to read his thoughts.

'If you have any information to share, commander, I want to hear it.'

'It's not really information, Captain, more a gut feeling,' Ford confessed.

'Go on, commander,' Bridger said.

'I don't think Lucas's relationship with his father is all good,' Ford said, taking great care over his choice of words.

'Has Lucas said anything to you?' Westphalen asked.

Ford shook his head. 'It's just that, when he's with his father, Lucas is, well…' he sought for the right word, '…obedient.'

'And you think that is a bad thing, Commander?' the emphasis Westphalen put on his rank was clear, 'I thought that is what you wanted Lucas to be, maybe your just jealous because you can't get the same reaction from the boy?'

Ford ignored the last part, and also tried to ignore the Captain's muffled laugh that was hurriedly covered with a cough.

'Maybe obedience isn't the right word,' the hesitation was much shorter this time, if he was going to do this, he might as well do it properly. 'I think Lucas is afraid of his father.'

Bridger and Kristen were silent for a moment as they each took the information in.

'Perhaps they don't know each other enough well enough and Lucas is just nervous around him?' Bridger hazarded the hope that he was right quite clear in his voice. Ford understood the emotion, even though he wasn't close to Lucas, Ford could feel his blood run cold at the idea of his father hurting him.

'I didn't notice much nervousness from him when he came aboard seaQuest,' Ford pointed out, 'I'm sure you know Lucas better than I do, sir, but his reaction to his father does make me wonder if there isn't more to it than that.'

'You think Dr. Wolenczak may be violent?' Bridger asked.

'I don't know, sir. But from what I've seen of Lucas he doesn't follow orders willingly, even from you. His reaction to his father does make me concerned.'

'Then I'm not going to risk it,' Bridger said, 'we'll send you the co-ordinates and collect you all as soon as possible.'

Ford nodded and was soon looking at the blank screen. He was glad, not to mention more than a little bit relieved, that they were leaving the Dome. All he had to do was get the shore leave party into a launch and to the rendezvous point and he could stop being a baby sitter and start being a UEO officer again.

Sometimes you just had to start with the easiest job and work your way on from there. O'Neill was sober and tended to react reasonably well to being woken up in the middle of the night. Ford looked at his watch, it was actually six in the morning, but it still felt like the middle of the night because he had managed to get to his bed yet.

The young officer reacted just as Ford had expected him to. Being woken up after only just dropping off to sleep was a common enough thing on a UEO submarine, O'Neill took it in his stride. If his eyes were a little bit bleary behind his glasses and he hid a yawn behind one hand at least he made no complaint at the trip being cut short – if only he could rely on the same from the rest of them. A moment or two later the two men had their bags packed.

'Lucas?' Tim suggested looking at the boy's door.

Ford nodded, 'Then he can wake Krieg up.' The Commander had no wish to undertake that particular mission.

Failing to wake Lucas up by knocking on the teenager's door they went to the door opposite where Lawrence was supposed to be staying. The knocking failed to elicit a response there either. Ford tried the handle, just in case it was still unlocked, and the door swung open.

Lucas was fast asleep, his chin propped up by an elbow on the desk. Next to him the computer ran numbers and calculations. As the two officers watched the computer reached the end of its programme and an alarm beeped. The teenagers head was right next to the speaker. Lucas groaned, and rubbed his eyes as he tried to focus on the streams of numbers that had been produced.

Ford cleared his throat. Lucas spun around, but relaxed as he saw who was there. 'Commander, what's wrong?' Lucas asked.

'We have to go back to seaQuest we're being sent out of the area.'

'Now?' Lucas asked, already turning back to the computer and starting analyse the date.

Ford nodded, 'Where's Dr. Wolenczak?' he asked, 'we need to tell him that you are leaving.'

'Um, he just stepped out for a few minutes,' Lucas said, keeping his attention on the computer.

'You need to find him and let him know what's happening. Do you know where he went?'

'He'll be back in a few minutes, I'll just finish off doing this while I wait for him to get back.'

'Lucas, we're leaving now. The Captain won't enjoy being kept waiting.'

'This won't take long…' Before he finished the sentence Lucas's attention was already back on the figures and he showed no sign of knowing Ford still stood next to him.

Commander Ford decided it was time to get serious. After a quick inspection he found the power outlet on the wall near the desk. He put his finger on the switch ready to press.

'Lucas.' He repeated the teenager's name until he looked up. 'I'm going to press this switch when I reach ten.'

'Commander, you can't…' Lucas began, but he saw the look on the XO's face and was already shutting down programmes and saving the contents as he went, before the men reached two. The last programme saved its contents on Nine. Lucas wasn't sure if the Commander would have switched off the power if he had reached ten, but experience had told taught him that the Commander rarely made idle threats. Lucas did not want to see his father's face if he came back to the room to find that his son had nothing to show for the last couple of hours work.

'Get your stuff packed, and get Ben up. Then find your father and let him know what's happening. I'm piloting the launch away from this place in exactly fifteen minutes if you are on it or not.'

This threat probably was idle, Lucas thought, as he crammed the paperwork he needed to continue his father's work into his holdall. The chances were that Ford wouldn't go back to the seaQuest without him. Part of Lucas liked to think that the Captain wouldn't be too pleased with the XO if he did. On the other hand if they were departing for an important mission, and that mission didn't involve computers, perhaps the Captain wouldn't care either way. You couldn't hold up a UEO flag ship for a teenage kid, right? Lucas reminded himself, not for the first time, that he shouldn't get too attached to the Captain.

Ben, and a hung-over Ben in particular, was a heavy sleeper. Lucas pounded his fist against the door. Finally he heard movement inside. After several seconds of listening to someone fumble with the lock on the other side of the door Lucas saw the door open, and in the darkness beyond Ben was holding his head and leaning against the wall for support.

Ben opened his mouth but all he could manage was a groan. Lucas reached into the room and switched the lights on in there. Ben removed his hands from his temples and put them over his eyes.

This time, when he opened his mouth he managed to speak. 'Is there any particular reason why you're torturing me, or do you just enjoy it?'

'I just enjoy it,' Lucas agreed, gently his friend to one side so he could get into the room. As the teenager moved around the bedroom grabbing clothes, and whatever random things Ben had thought it necessary to bring with him on the trip, and stuffing them into Ben's bag the older man collapsed face down on the bed.

'What time is it?' Ben said into his pillow.

'No idea,' Lucas said, pulling a shirt that had been kicked half way under a chair out from it's hiding place and shoving into the bag with the rest.

'Why did you wake me up?' Ben said, if anything the words were even more muffled this time.

'SeaQuest is picking us up.' A quick inspection of the room showed it to be empty of everything Krieg owned. Lucas dropped Ben's bag outside the door and went back in for Ben himself.

The supply officer was snoring. 'I don't have time for this,' Lucas muttered to himself. It already had to be way more then five minutes since he'd left Ford. Lucas grabbed one of Ben's arms and, putting all his weight into the action, pulled Ben so hard he fell off the bed onto the floor. It succeeded in waking the man up. While Ben was still trying to work out what was going on, Lucas dragged the men to his feet and led him to the door.

Ignoring Ben's complaints, Lucas picked up Ben's bag and tucked it under Ben's arm. As the walked down the corridor Lucas saw Tim propelling Miguel out of another bedroom a little way away with one hand.

'Tim! Catch!' Lucas pushed Ben in Tim's direction. Tim O'Neill turned in time to see Ben stumble to a halt a few steps away. Fielding Ben into line with Miguel he nodded to Lucas and pushed his two hung-over crewmates towards the launch.

Long experience when he was younger had taught Lucas that it was practically impossible to find his father in the maze of bars and clubs in the dome. Looking at his watch, Lucas knew he only had a few minutes before he would need to run for the launch. He didn't waste time looking for his father, but slipped back into his fathers room, switched the lap top back on and, opening a new document typed as coherent an explanation as possible.

All the hours he had spent typing programming ment, even then, his fingers could fly over the keys, Lucas just wished he was in a fit state for his brain to think as quickly as his fingers moved. It took too long to make the words make sense, in the end he had to admit that the explanation wasn't going to get any better. Turning the screen towards the door and leaving the screen switched on so his father would see it when he came into the room Lucas grabbed his bag and ran from the room.

His father wouldn't approve of the note, come to that Lucas was pretty sure that neither Ford nor Bridger would be thrilled if they found out about the method either, but it would have to do. All he wanted to do was get back to seaQuest and crash out for a few hours. When he woke up he'd be able to think more clearly and he could sort everything out then. Everything would be OK once he got some sleep.

When Lucas arrived at the hatch that led to the launch Ford had his hand on the handle of the hatch and was about to close it. The Commander was looking at his watch. Slightly out of breath Lucas ran up.

'Congratulations, Lucas, seven seconds to spare. You told your father?' Lucas nodded, it wasn't really a lie, Ford closed the hatch behind them and went back to pilot the launch out.

The rear cabin the launch consisted of two rows of seat, one set against each wall. Miguel and Shan sat on one side, each cradling their heads in their hands and muttering things about giving up drink for ever. The seats next to them were taken up by all the bags.

Ben lay across all the chairs on the on the other side. Occasional groans from that direction implied that the man wasn't actually dead – but corpses had been known to look healthier.

Moving anything off the seats was too much effort. Lucas dropped his bag on the floor and lay down with his head resting on it. The paperwork he had taken from his fathers room rustled and crackled as he tried to push the overstuffed bag into a comfortable pillow. He gave up, it would do. Lucas was pretty sure it didn't matter how uncomfortable he was, sleep would come quickly. He was right.

* * *

The rendezvous site was not far from the dome and the launch was soon within radar distance of seaQuest. Tim peered through the hatch that separated the front and back portions of the launch. Lucas was lying in the middle of the floor, eyes closed and apparently not at all disturbed by either the noise of the engine directly below his head or the, now slightly more coherent, curses and complaints from the other three occupants.

'We're almost there. I'm pretty sure Dr. Westphalen and the Captain will be waiting in launch bay so you might want to try to look sober when you get there,' Tim advised.

Ben groaned loudly, and Tim hushed him, pointing to Lucas, fast asleep on the floor. The supply officer looked down and noticed the teen for the first time.

'Do you think "so exhausted he's sleeping on a cold metal floor" fits in with Dr. Westphalen's orders of bringing Lucas back fit, well and in one piece?' Ben asked Tim.

'At least he's in one piece,' Tim said, 'and I'm pretty sure he's sober.'

Ben flopped back onto his seat. 'She's going to kill me. I don't want to die hung-over!' he protested.

Tim O'Neill glanced at the screens over his shoulder. 'We're approaching seaQuest now, you'd better wake him up.'

Doing his best to keep his head still, and his vision focused Ben knelt down by Lucas and gently shock Lucas's shoulder. 'Wake up, kid. We're almost home.'

Lucas turned in his sleep and pulled his shoulder away from Ben's hand. Ben called his name again and Lucas woke up with a start, sitting up quickly enough to make Ben's head spin.

'I just dropped off for a second while the programme ran the numbers…' Lucas trailed off as he opened his eyes and focused on the men around him.

'What programme?' Ben asked, holding his head again and sitting back on one of the seats that had earlier made a make shift bed for him.

Lucas ran a hand through his hair, bidding for time as he tried to remember where he was. 'What programme?' he asked.

'That's what I wanted to know. You said something about falling asleep in the middle of something.'

Lucas dragged himself to his feet and flopped into the chair next to Ben. 'I must have been dreaming,' he dismissed the idea casually enough.

'Kid, has anyone every explained to you that teenage boys are not suppose to dream about computer programmes?'

Lucas laughed and leaned back in the uncomfortable chair, resting his head against the bulk head behind him. His eyes began to drift closed again.

'When was the last time you slept, Lucas?' Tim asked, still in the hatchway.

'Last night,' the response was instant and automatic. Lucas didn't even open his eyes let alone engage his brain.

It was the reply he expected. Tim shook his head and went back into the front section, saying over his shoulder, 'Good luck getting the doctor to believe that!'

* * *

There was a welcome party waiting for them when the men stepped off the launch. Kristen Westphalen cast an analytical glance over each man as he emerged from the hatch. The expression on her face when she saw Miguel, Shan and Ben told them exactly what she thought of the hang-overs they still couldn't quite manage to hide.

Tim and Ford received slightly more friendly glances when they emerged sober and apparently healthy. Lucas was the last out and one look at the dark shadows under his eyes and his pale face told her quite enough to put both her mothering instincts and her doctors instincts into overdrive. Still not quite awake, Lucas stumbled on the threshold of the hatch which did nothing to ease Kristen's feelings.

As she was observing the others Ford made his reports to Bridger. The Commander was just about to leave the launch bay when Kristen called him back.

'Don't run away, Commander, you all have appointments in med bay. No arguments!' she turned her attention back to the others.

Ford cast an almost pleading glance back at the Captain. Bridger smiled but shook his head. 'You heard the lady, no arguments. You can report to me afterwards, and then I'll brief you all on the mission.'

Ford sighed. He knew that there was no way of getting out of this. He wasn't the fondest of doctors at the best of times and this didn't feel like the best of time – not at all.

* * *

Kristen herded them all towards med bay. While she itched to ask Lucas about his shore leave she had learnt not to ask him too many questions, or rather learned that asking him lots of questions didn't do any good. The answers were always automatic and exactly fitted in with whatever you wanted to hear. To find the truth was harder. You had to watch the boy, little details in his expression, what he didn't say, when he didn't look you in the eye. It was pointless to ask him anything when you couldn't give him your full attention, you'd learn nothing that way.

'Commander, you're first.' She saw Ford's jaw tense as he forced himself not to say anything. He walked into the examination room and she followed him, closing the door behind her.

'Is this strictly necessary?' Ford asked as the doctor took out of a draw what she needed to take blood samples.

'No,' she said, 'but the easiest way to get Lucas in here is to make him part of a job lot.'

'If I'm just here to make up the numbers,' Ford pointed out, 'you don't really need to take blood.'

'Well, it's a pity to waste the opportunity, since you're here anyway,' Kristen bit her lip and didn't laugh at the expression on the commander's face. 'And, while you're here you can tell me a bit more about Lucas and his father.'

'There's not much to tell you. It just seemed wrong.'

'You've going to have to do better than that, Commander. Think of this as a practice round before you explain it to the Captain.'

Ford stared at nothing for several moments. 'If we were all in a…' he tried to think of the best word.

'A strip club, Commander? I am familiar with the term.' Kristen knew she shouldn't tease him, but Ford did make it difficult to resist sometimes.

'If we were in a bar,' Ford said, 'and the Captain walked in and ordered Lucas out of there, what do you think Lucas would say?'

Dr. Wesphalen thought about her answer before she spoke. 'Probably that he isn't a child, or that he has as much right to be there as anyone else, or something sarcastic if he was in one of those moods.'

'And if someone else, other than the Captain, ordered him?'

'Definitely some sort of sarcastic response. Why?'

'So, what would you think if he just did as he was told without saying anything?'

'He didn't say anything?'

'He just got up and went to follow his father out of the room, no back talk, no arguing, nothing.'

'It does seem out of character,' she confessed.

'He didn't even do what he was told when the people telling him were terrorists who had taken over the boat. What kid is more afraid of his own father than of terrorists?' Ford asked.

Kristen didn't answer; she was too busy asking herself the exact same question.

She took the blood samples from Ford and completed the basic check up on auto-pilot, not expecting to find anything wrong with the Commander and finding just what she had expected.

Tim was ordered into the room next. As Kristen drew blood, and went through the basics of blood pressure and temperature she asked the young officer what he thought about Lucas and his relationship with his father.

'He was acting strange,' Tim admitted, 'But, if I'm honest, doctor, I don't know how much is down to meeting is father, and how much is just exhaustion. The kid just doesn't get enough sleep.'

Kristen nodded. Of course, convincing the boy to have eight hours solid sleep every night had been a long standing battle, but she hadn't realised she was losing by so much. If only this could all be explained and cured so easily.

* * *

Krieg was not looking forward to his check up. Kristen hadn't looked to be in a good mood. If his head would stop throbbing maybe he would be able to handle it better, but the drumming on his temples was echoing around his skull and setting off little bursts of light behind his eye balls.

When his turn came, he walked as carefully as he could into the exam room and sat down, gently so as not to make any noise. Kristen closed the door with a bang, Krieg was sure she did it on purpose. He looked pitifully at her.

Kristen smiled to herself and rolled her eyes. 'Let's find out how much blood you have in your alcohol stream, shall we, lieutenant?'

She took the samples, and if she made a little extra noise when she used the equipment Krieg wasn't quite stupid enough to complain.

'Did you enjoy your leave?' she asked as she finished taking his temperature.

'What I can remember of it,' Krieg hazarded. He took a deep breath, 'before you say anything else, doctor, I would like to point out that Lucas spent most of the time with his father – I cannot take any responsibility for anything he may have got up to when I wasn't there.' It wasn't a bad speech; Ben had spent a lot of the time in the waiting room practicing it, and he was quite pleased with how sober it sounded.

'Don't worry, Krieg, you're off the hook. For this at least - I'm sure you'll find something else to get yourself back in trouble for soon enough. All you have to do now is survive the briefing and your next shift while you're hung-over.'

Ben groaned.

Miguel and Shan managed to elicit very slightly more sympathy from Kristen, but only very slightly. Lucas was the last one to be called in. Ushering Shan out of the room, Kristen called Lucas but he didn't appear around the door.

'If that boy has ran off again…' she muttered the words under her breath but they trailed off when she walked back into the waiting room and saw Lucas sitting where she had left him once more fast asleep.

It was a shame to wake him but it had to be done. She knelt down next to him and gently nudged him awake. 'Five more minutes,' he muttered.

Kristen sighed. 'Come on Lucas, you can sleep more comfortably in here.' With some gentle encouragement Lucas moved himself from the waiting room onto the bench in the exam room. The doctor wasn't even sure he woke up entirely at any point. He lay down on the bench and within seconds his breathing had evened out and he was in a deep sleep.

In some ways it would make the check up easier. He probably wouldn't have been too keen on the idea of some of the tests she wanted to carry out. Kristen started by doing the same tests she had carried out on the other men. Lucas didn't even wake up when she took the blood. A few minutes later when she started up the body scanner she was sure the noise would rouse him, but Lucas slept on.

He was still sleeping when Kristen switched all the machines off. Before she walked into the lab next door to read through the print outs of information Kristen took a blanket from the hospital stores and tucked it around Lucas, brushing a lock of hair off his forehead. The boy looked too young, closer to ten than sixteen, as he snuggled under the soft wool in his sleep.

Kristen closed the door quietly behind her and opened the lab door. The doctor in her said that whatever the results said wouldn't change if she put it off, but the rest of her, all the parts of her to which Lucas was far more than a patient, hesitated. She wasn't sure what she would do if they showed the history a lot of Lucas's friends were beginning to expect. 'Pull yourself together, woman,' she ordered herself under her breath, 'you're a doctor, start acting like it.'

All the test results were in a pile in the printer tray, they made quite a bundle. Kristen picked them up and sat down at her desk to read them.

To be continued…

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If anyone has any comments, criticisms or anything else to say, please do review. I'm trying to update at least one of my stories every week so the next part should be up before long. 


	5. Chapter 5

Hi everyone. Many thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I still don't own anyone or use a beta so the only things I can lay claim to are the mistakes.

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**Chapter 5.**

Kristen was still sitting at her desk, the unread papers in a pile before here when Bridger tapped quietly on the door to the lab. She jumped at the sudden sound in the silent room.

Bridger didn't say anything; he walked in and sat down opposite her. 'The results?' he finally asked.

Kristen nodded.

'What do they say?' the Captain prompted.

'I don't know, I haven't read them yet.'

Bridger just nodded. He wasn't inclined to admit that he had spent the last five minutes or more pacing back and forth in front of the little med bay door, trying to convince himself to enter.

Kristen knew there would be no more putting it off, not in front of an audience. She picked up the first sheet and rapidly scanned the content. Silently she frowned and read the next sheet, and then the next. Bridger watched her with all the patience he could muster.

'Well?' he asked, when could couldn't stand the suspense any longer.

'Nothing.'

'Nothing?'

'Nothing,' she repeated.

'Kristen, help me out here. Nothing?'

'That's just what the test results show, no broken bones, no healed fractures, no soft tissue damage,' she turned the next few pages over, 'all his blood tests are clear, low level of alcohol – but that was expected after his shore leave. His blood sugars a bit low – probably forgot to eat while he was away.'

'So we were wrong?'

Kristen put the papers down, 'there's no medical reason to think we were right. If there had been any physical violence there would be evidence on these scans.'

'Physical,' Bridger said. And Kristen could only nod. They were both thinking the same thing. 'I don't suppose there are any scans that can tell what's going on in his head, are there?'

The doctor shook her head. 'But if it helps Lucas doesn't show any signs of any sort of abuse. If he were emotionally abused you'd expect poor self esteem, aggression, fear of adults, attempts to self medicate with alcohol or drugs, and none of the other signs are there. Maybe we've just over-reacted. Maybe Lucas and his father just don't like each other a lot.'

Bridger nodded and stood up. 'Where is Lucas, I should probably have a talk with his anyway.'

'He's still in the exam room. He fell asleep. He doesn't even know I did the tests – he was asleep before I even started. The boy's exhausted.'

'I'll let his sleep then, we can brief him later.'

Bridger and Kristen walked to the ward room in silence, each still mentally thanking whatever version of God they believed in that they had been wrong.

The rest of the bridge crew were already assembled in the ward room ready to be briefed on their newest mission. Captain could feel the questions in the men's eyes as they fixed on him, even before he was quite into the room.

'Lucas is fine,' he said, 'he's asleep now, so he'll be briefed later.' His eyes carried more information that the actual words and he could feel some of the tension in the room ease as they understood what he was telling them. He waited a few moments until he was sure the information had sunk in then he turn their attention to the next issue. 'The information on the next mission has come in.'

He called up a map of a group of islands onto the large screen. 'The Trewfori islands. They've been out of contact with the UEO and it's predecessors for over seventy years and engaged in a civil war for most of that time, but recently the official government has been making moves towards forming links with the UEO. A week ago they asked the UEO to look into some computer problems they've been having.'

'And they need to send seaQuest half way around the world just to fix a few computers?' Kristen asked.

'They want to make a good impression, we're the flag-ship,' Bridger said, although he sounded as unhappy about it as Kristen did.

'What exactly are the computer problems?' Ford asked, far more comfortable now that everything was back to business.

'Hopefully Lucas will be able to tell us, which is the other half of the reason we're being sent there. Over the last week several computer experts have been drafted in and none of them have been able to work out what the problem is – the best they can come up with is that it's an undetectable virus. Apparently Lucas has a history of programming those sort of viruses,' he met Kristen's eyes, 'you're right, we probably don't want to know, but that's why the UEO think he'll be able to help.'

'It's a good thing you didn't decide to extend his shore leave,' Tim observed, having heard that it was a possibility that was considered.

Bridger just nodded. He could just imagine the look on the Admirals face if he'd had to tell him they couldn't fix the computers because Lucas was on holiday.

'Cap, aren't they worried about their security? They're just going to let us into their computers?' Crocker asked.

'It seems they are very confident in their coding abilities.' Bridger said, referring to the information that had come through from the Admiral.

'They haven't heard much about Lucas, have they?' Kreig asked, every word making him want to wince at the pain in his head, but knowing he had to make some attempt to show that he wasn't completely incapacitated by his hang over.

'Luckily not, because while we are in their computers we're going to do some snooping around. Our orders are to find out as much as we can about the islanders and investigate any possibility that the negotiations are a cover and that they are actually hostile toward the UEO.'

'Is there any evidence that the negotiations aren't being made in good faith?' Ford asked.

Bridger flicked through the briefing notes the UEO had sent to him, 'to quote directly from Admiral Talbot's instructions "we have received reliable classified Military intelligence." Classification level 14.'

'They aren't even going to tell us what they already know about the possible threat?' Commander Hitchcock asked. The Captain nodded. 'But that's…' she didn't finish the sentence so Dr. Westphalen stepped in.

'Stupid.'

'Misguided. Admirals are never stupid, they are misguided, one of the privileges of rank,' Bridger said, absent mindedly, flicking through the rest of the notes.

'Anyone who wants us to investigate something this serious based on faith and a contradiction in terms is stupid, Admiral or not,' Westphalen said emphatically.

'Happily, there is one person on the boat who does have level 14 clearance,' Bridger said, trying not to smile at the crack about Military Intelligence.

'I thought you only had level 12, Cap?' Crocker said, thinking of the security files stating the different levels of clearance everyone on the boat had been granted.

'That's right,' Bridger nodded, 'and what do the files say about Lucas's security clearance?'

'Level 2 military clearance, the minimum for anyone to get onto the boat,' Crocker said, 'And a science clearance of level 2 as well, the minimum to access most of the labs.'

'Why so low,' Tim asked, 'I mean that would mean he couldn't access the files on the vo-corder, or the stinger, anything like that?'

'Apparently the UEO didn't like the idea of giving higher clearance to a teenage hacker,' Bridger said, with a straight face.

Ben looked up, 'I know I'm hung-over, but if they know he's a hacker…'

'The records show quite clearly that Lucas has never attempted to access anything above level 2 clearance,' Bridger told them.

'Which only means he's good at what he does!' Kreig protested.

'Exactly, and when he wakes up-'

'Which won't be any time in the next twelve hours or more. He's exhausted,' Westphalen interrupted, her tone making it quite clear that there would be no negotiation on the issue.

'Well then, until he wakes up we can improvise. If the information is in the UEO, I'm sure between us we should be able to shake a few bits of scuttlebutt loose no matter how high the clearance level is.'

He looked at the sceptical faces around the table and smiled. 'Believe it or not, this boat did function before Lucas came aboard. It should take us about 12 hours to reach the chain of islands. Everyone's to be back here in four hours and we'll pool our information then.'

* * *

Lucas woke up with a start. He looked around the med bay trying to work out why he was there. He rubbed his eyes and pushed his hair back off his face. Something very loud was happening outside. Lucas got up off the examination bench, carefully folding the blanket that had covered him while he slept and leaving it on the bench. 

Opening the hatch of the examination room into the main med-bay Lucas saw what all the commotion was about. A seaman was bleeding all over the floor while Dr. Westphalen, along with several medics and nurses rushed around him trying to stem the bleeding, Lucas edged around them and out of the med-bay, able to slip past without being noticed in all the confusion.

'What happened?' He asked another seaman who was standing just outside the med-bay covered in the injured man's blood.

'Seaman Jones found out why you really remember to close the catch on the knife drawer,' he looked at Lucas's confused expression, 'the boat shifted course, the drawer opened, the knives fell out, his instinct was to try to catch them. Not a good idea.'

Lucas winced. 'Ouch!'

'Won't make the same mistake again, that's for sure,' the seaman went back to looking through the window into med-bay and Lucas walked away.

If every cloud had a silver lining then at least Dr. Westphalen would have someone else to worry about for a few days – he might actually be able to get some work done.

Lucas wondered along the corridors. Something in the back of his mind was trying to get his attention, but the information was just out of reach all the time. Something about… that was it, they were called back early. Something about a new mission… Lucas made his way to the ward room. Maybe they were still being briefed and he would be in time to catch up.

A glance at his watch told him that he'd been asleep for a little over three hours. The last thing he needed was the entire crew thinking he was a little kid who needed an afternoon nap. The mess hall was on the way to the ward room and Lucas ducked in few a few seconds, grabbing a chocolate substitute bar and some over-brewed coffee. Taking a gulp of coffee he hurried along the corridor. The coffee was far too hot and burned the inside of his mouth, but Lucas forced it down knowing that he needed the caffeine to kick in as soon as possible.

He knocked on the door to the wardroom and peered in. Some of the senior crew were sitting around the table, they looked up as they saw him.

'Lucas? Shouldn't you be asleep?' the Captain asked, standing up.

The teenager shrugged. 'I woke up.'

'Does Dr. Westphalen know?' Bridger asked.

'I think she's busy, some sort of accident in the galley.'

The Captain silently debated the risks of Kristen finding out against the need for Lucas's computer skills. 'Take a seat and I'll bring you up to speed,' he offered.

Lucas sat down and listened to the same briefing the others had been given a few hours earlier. He was soon on the mainframe computer all but oblivious to the activities of the rest of the crew behind him. He didn't look up when the other members of the senior crew, all except Kristen who was still attending to her duties as medical officer, arrived with whatever information they had gathered.

'So, what do we know?' Bridger asked. No-one volunteered to speak up first. 'Lieutenant Kreig?' he prompted.

'A guy I know knows someone, who knows someone, who…'

'We get the idea, Kreig, what did you find out?' Commander Ford said rolling his eyes heavenward.

'The rebel groups and the government have both been putting in some big weapons orders on the black market. They're armed with some of the best that money can buy – including a few things that are UEO designed and high level classified.'

'Do we know who they are planning to use these weapons against?' Miguel asked, 'they are in a civil war, right, so they could be in some sort of internal weapons race?'

Ben shrugged, 'no-one asked.'

He saw their looks of surprise, 'enough money can buy a lot of no questions if you're dealing with the right sort of people, or maybe the wrong sort of people, depends on your point of view.'

'If they've been cut off for so long, how do they have this sort of money?' Ford asked.

'Portinium Mines,' Commander Hitchcock said, '– the island is full of them, the metals worth more than gold to engineers. Lightweight, strong and the demand out-strips the supply, we used small amounts on the Gazelle. I thought I recognised the name of the islands from somewhere so I did some digging. They could fund anything they want to without any trouble.'

Bridger nodded, fitting this new information into his mental picture. 'Has anyone managed to find out if there is an evidence for the negotiations being a cover?'

Crocker spoke up. 'I managed to get in contact with a Chief of security who was assigned to one of the UEO delegations that have visited the island. We severed a tour together years ago. He didn't have the security clearance to get any direct access to the information, but what he did hear doesn't fit. All the evidence that they're up to something is too good, too straight-forward. Like something out of a bad crime novel. All the clues led in the same direction.'

'You think the threat is a fabrication?'

'It's a possibility, Cap. They're an easy target. If it did turn out that the islands were a threat to the UEO it could be a reason for the UEO to get involved and set up a presence on the island, maybe even get a share in those mines the Commander was talking about.'

He turned to O'Neill. 'Anything?'

'If we're going to be investigating them, I thought it would be worth wild finding out a bit about their language and culture,' Tim said, 'If we need to talk to them for any reason it's not going to be straight forward. The language they use is a very specific dialect. It's not something I'm familiar with, and my guess would be that no-one outside the island will be either.'

'Could you get by in an emergency?'

'I can work out the basics and avoid insulting their mothers, but I can't say we won't run into trouble if we need to engage in lengthy discussions. And, there's no information,' he glanced at Lucas, who was still typing away on the keyboard, 'at least no information I could access, about their culture. There's no way to know what might insult them.'

Bridger nodded again. 'Your priority will be to get a grip on the language as quickly as possible; we'll see what we can find out about the culture,' he too cast a glance towards Lucas's back.

'Anyone else?'

'There have been rumours,' Ford said dubiously.

'Go on, Commander, at the moment rumours are all we have.'

'Rumours about the UEO delegation rather than the islands. The Commander the UEO has sent in is known for somewhat unorthodox techniques.'

'So am I, Commander,' Bridger reminded him.

'Yes, but your unorthodox approach doesn't tend to get people killed, he has the worse Command record in the UEO.'

'This wouldn't be a Commander "Teflon" Trent by any chance?' Katie asked.

'Teflon?' Bridger asked.

'As in what they used to make non-stick pans out of – they used to say he was made of the same thing – nothing sticks to him. He's been accused of everything you can think of, but nothing can ever be proven. He was at the academy at the same time as Ben and I. If there is any fabrication of evidence I wouldn't put it past him being involved.'

'This just gets better and better,' Bridger muttered, 'Lucas, have you had any luck yet?' No response, 'Lucas?'

The teenager looked up, 'Captain?'

'Have you found anything?'

'Not yet,' Lucas said, absently.

One or two of the people around the table looked surprised. Ben Kreig caught the expressions and even hung-over felt the need defend Lucas. 'It's security level 14 people, give the kid a break!'

'What? The official UEO files? Oh, I've been in all those files – there's nothing in them,' he's attention was already back with the computer.

'Lucas?' the Captain repeated Lucas's name until he regain the boys attention. 'The files were empty?'

Lucas turned away from the computer. 'Not empty, the files exist and they are the right size and everything, but when you actually access the files everything in them is coded. When you de-code them all they contain are big sections of the UEO rule book copied and pasted into the file.'

The all looked at him still with no idea what he was talking about.

'If you want people to think a file exists you can just dump about the right amount of material in a file with the right label on it. If someone can't access the file they'll assume it contains what it says on the label.'

'So you're saying that the proof that's supposed to be in those files doesn't exist?' Commander Ford asked.

'It could exist, but it isn't in those files, and someone wanted us to think it was. I'll keep digging and see what else is out there. If it's on a computer with an inter-nex link I'll find it.'

'Then it seems we're going to have to play it by ear and see what happens when we get there,' Bridger said. He dismissed them from the meeting and everyone wandered off either back to their duties or to their beds depending which shift they were on.

Lucas didn't leave the computer terminal he was working on, he may not have even heard the others leaving.

'Do you plan to get back to sleep before or after Dr. Westphalen finds you?' Bridger asked, leaning over his shoulder to see what he was working on.

'I think she'll be distracted for a while. I'll make the most of it while I can.' Lucas hesitated and looked up at the Captain. 'Too much honesty?' he asked.

Bridger nodded. 'There'll be time enough for this later, get a few more hours sleep. We want you to be awake when you fix the island's computers.' Lucas opened his mouth to protest. 'Go, now, no arguments.'

Lucas decided that it was probably a good idea to pick his fights. Give in on this one and have a better chance next time. It helped that he knew the programme he was running to search for any mentions of the Trewfori islands could run while he slept, no point telling Bridger that though. With apparent good grace Lucas retreated to Mammal engineering.

He almost went straight to his bed, the jolt of caffeine hadn't been strong enough to

stop that being a very temping prospect. But, he considered, what self respecting computer geek could go to sleep without checking their e-mails.

The internex was up on the screen in moments. Lucas looked down the list of senders and muttered a quiet curse under his breath.

To be continued…

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If you're enjoying it so far, or if you are not enjoying it for that matter, please do drop in a review and let me know. And feed back is appreciated – positive or negative - it's justnice to know that there are people out there reading the story. Thanks again to everyone who has reviewed the previous chapters.

I'm still not really happy with the title - even though I've already changed it a few times. So, if anyone has any ideas drop them into the review too.

Cadi.


	6. Chapter 6

A little bit later than expected this week – real life issues to deal with. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. See previous chapters for disclaimers about ownership.

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**Chapter 6.**

Two days away from an inter-nex connection and there were more than a score of e-mails waiting for his attention. The new spam filters he had been testing seemed to be blocking out at least some of the nuisance junk mail, but a few always slipped through the net. Lucas deleted them and then started to work through the rest of them.

Most of them were easy enough to get rid of. No, he wouldn't be at the conference. No, he didn't want to work on that project. Sorry, he didn't have time to test the new software – although that one did cause him a few seconds pause, it was his favourite gaming company, but he had the suspicion that he wouldn't have a lot of time for gaming in the near future.

Lucas was soon left with just three e-mails. He had a pretty good idea what each of them would want. Someone people were a lot easier to brush off than others, and these three were the hardest of all. With a sigh Lucas pushed his hand through his hair and opened the first of the three e-mails. It was from Biff Pickering reminding him that he had promised to help with his latest programming project.

The teenager repeated his previous curse. It wasn't that he had forgotten exactly, but with one thing and another it had got pushed to the back of his mind behind all the other projects he had on the go. Lucas quickly opened the other two mails and scanned through them.

One was from the UEO. Hidden among the big words and formal phrasing Lucas was able to make out the truth. It boiled down to a very simple message – if you don't agree to do this programming project we have the power to cut your science budget into tiny little pieces. Someone had put a bit of effort into making it sound more polite and less obviously like a threat than that, but they still made it very clear that the money it would cost to pay someone else to write the programme would have to come from someone and it sure as hell wouldn't be the military budget.

It was hard to say no to a request like that. Lucas sent off an abrupt agreement to do the work.

The third mail was from his father's e-mail account. The content consisted entirely of instructions on what his father expected him to do with the attached files and how quickly he expected the work done. It didn't even occur to Lucas to say no. Another quick reply was sent in acknowledgement. No mention was made in either of the e-mails about the pleasure dome.

Then Lucas found himself once more looking at Biff's message. It was a promise… but there was just no way. He wrote to Biff asking if there was any way he could do the project without his help. As much as he hated to admit it he had to tell his friend that he was just snowed under with work. He sent the e-mail and tried not to feel too guilty about it – it wasn't as difficult as he'd expected - by that point he just didn't have the energy to feel anything, guilt included.

He curled up on the bunk, not bothering to change out of his clothes or get under the covers. Sleep came quickly.

* * *

The beeping was annoyingly persistent. Lucas reached up, pulled the pillow out from under his head and put it over his head trying to block out as much of the sound as possible. He was almost succeeding what a familiar voice came over the speaker.

'Answer your pal, Lucas.' Tim O'Neil's voice was recognisable even over the speaker system and through the pillow.

Lucas slowly extended the arm that wasn't clamping the pillow to his ear and picked up the pal of the desk near his head. He brought it under the pillow with him. 'What?' he demanded.

'We're approaching the Trewfori islands,' Tim said, 'the Captain wants to see you in the Ward room.'

Lucas didn't bother to reply but dropped the pal back on the desk. He hadn't switched it off, and a couple of moments later the familiar voice of the lieutenant came back. 'Don't go back to sleep, Lucas,' it ordered.

'I wasn't-' Lucas said into the pillow.

'Yes, you were, Lucas,' and the teenager had to smile at that. The conversation had been played over so many times that Tim could fill in what Lucas said if the teenager didn't press the button and activate the pal so Tim could hear the actual words.

'I'm awake, and I'm on my way to the ward room,' Lucas said, this time pressing the button so Tim could hear him properly. He dragged himself out of bed and to his computer. The search had found some information while he slept, he sent it to the ward room and stumbled out of Mammal engineering.

A shower and a change of clothes were near the top of his list of things to do but they could wait. Caffeine and sugar couldn't – not unless he wanted to fall back asleep in the ward room. As he walked though the seaQuest Lucas tried to work out how long he had slept for. Four hours? Maybe a little longer?

Grabbing his coffee and chocolate substitute from the mess hall on the way past Lucas hurried along to the ward room.

The Captain looked up and smiled as he saw Lucas enter – the boy looked like he'd been dragged through a hedge backwards, all crumpled clothes and un-combed hair.

'What?' Lucas asked warily noticing the amused look.

Bridger laughed and shook his head. 'Drink your coffee, I'll tell you when you wake up.'

Lucas half obeyed the Captain, he took his coffee with him to the computer and called up the files his search had found, the other senior crew were filing into the room ready for the last briefing before they reached their destination. He glanced through the files, most were in one way or another from the UEO's own network of information. One in particular caught his attention – it was the information that the UEO had collected on the Trewfori culture in the last few months.

Remembering what the Captain had said about keeping an eye open for any cultural information, Lucas scanned the content of the file as the others listened to the Captain.

'Are you ignoring me, Lucas?' Bridger asked some minutes later.

'Yes, Captain.' Lucas say automatically. He didn't take his eyes or his attention off the screen.

'Wrong answer, Kiddo.'

Lucas did look around when he heard the laughter of the Captain and the other crew.

'There are times when "Yes, Captain" isn't necessarily the right automatic answer, Lucas,' Bridger explained.

'What would the right answer have been?' Lucas asked.

'No, Captain, would have been fine,' Bridger told him.

'I'll try to remember to say it more often,' Lucas promised, going back to reading the file.

'I was just telling you that you will be part of the shore party that goes onto the island,' Bridger repeated.

'No, Captain.'

'Lucas…' Bridger warned.

'I've been reading through the cultural information on the islands,' Lucas clarified, 'it seems that children aren't supposed to be seen or heard. The kid-genius act is not going to impress them. The UEO guidelines suggest that the shore party should be as old as possible,' under his breath Lucas added, just a fraction too loudly, 'no problem for you there then.'

'Thank you for that vote of confidence, Lucas,' Bridger said, still to glad to have Lucas back on the boat and none the worse for his time spent with his father to be bothered by the teenagery sarcasm. 'Can you fix the computer programme from seaQuest?' he asked.

'If it's the type of virus they think it is, then I just need an access point to their network and I can do everything from here. If they were properly connected to the outside world then I could access it straight from the inter-nex and fix it from anywhere, but at the moment they are electronically isolated. I'll set up a secure connection – all you'll have to do is plug in and play it when you get there.'

'Um…' Attention transferred to Tim O'Neill.

'Yes, lieutenant?'

'Aren't they expecting a Lucas Wolenczak to be part of the shore party? They've been told he's the best-'

'Which is true,' Lucas chipped in. Everyone ignored him.

'- could they take it as an insult if they don't get him?' Tim finished.

They all considered Lucas for several moment, realising that the concern was valid.

'Maybe they still could get a Lucas Wolenczak – who's to tell them that they're getting a fake rather than the real thing,' Ben said.

'Who did you have in mind to be the fake?' Bridger asked, already guessing the answer.

'Bearing in mind that the job requires tact, diplomacy and discipline,' Ford put in before Kreig could answer.

'Actually Ben probably would be the best person for the job,' Lucas said, again interrupting before Kreig could answer.

'Thank you Lucas, at least someone can see the potential in me!' Ben grinned.

'He's the best liar here and he can sit at a computer looking like he's busy for hours without actually doing anything,' Lucas finished with a grin.

'Hey!'

Bridger laughed along with the rest of them, 'Congratulations, Mr. Wolenczak,' he said to Kreig, 'welcome to the team.'

* * *

'You're sure you know how to you use it?' Lucas asked Ben for the third time.

'You said it's just plug in and play and that an untrained monkey couldn't get it wrong,' Ben said.

'I know, I just want to make sure that _you_ don't get it wrong – this is my reputation you're going to be destroying if you screw up.' The last thing he needed was for the great Dr Wolenczak to hear that his son couldn't even install a simple connection programme – and if it went wrong Lawrence would hear about it – somehow praise never flowed through the channels of communication as smoothly as his screw ups did.

Ben put the small piece of hardware into a briefcase and straightened his tie. 'What do you think? Do I look like a genius computer hacker?'

'Considering most of the hackers I know are 17 and I've never seen a hacker in a suit, you look fine,' Lucas said, glancing up from the screen for a moment or two. After confirming that the government on Trewfori had been told to expect a civilian expert Ben had dug his one and only suit out of storage – the one he wore on shore leave when he wanted to impress people.

Ben dragged Lucas away from the computer and they walked to the launch bay together. As usual they were the last to arrive. Bridger, Crocker and Tim O'Neill were waiting with varying degrees of patience. There had been some debate over whether or not Tim O'Neill was old enough to be part of the shore party, but since he was the only one who had managed to get any sort of grip on the language or the culture, he was a risk they had to take.

Lucas waved them off with Ford and Katie Hitchcock but as soon as they were gone he hurried back to his room. If luck was on his side he could get a fair way into the latest set of work his father had sent him before anything came through from the island party.

For almost an hour he was left to work in peace. He was so absorbed in his work that Lucas didn't hear his pal beeping until the second time it was contacted. The blaring music might have helped him ignore it but when he did answer the pal it also blocked out what-ever the person on the other end of the device was saying to him. He switched the music off and found Ford shouting at him, as soon as the Commander realised that the music had stopped he dropped his voice back down to a normal volume.

'Lucas, come to the bridge. We're having trouble with the sensor readings.'

'On my way,' Lucas forced himself not to sigh – the peace had been so nice while it lasted, with any luck he could be back working in a few minutes anyway, he saved his progress and went to the Bridge.

'What's the problem?' he asked, sitting on the floor by the sensor station and wriggling in to lie down inside the panelling under the desk.

'We were running a simulation,' Ford said – Lucas was glad he was under the panel because he was sure the Commander wouldn't have liked to see him roll his eyes the way he did – Ford had far to much enthusiasm for military drills and simulations, 'the first few sets of readings were fine, then they suddenly went off the grid and we can't get them back on-line.'

There were several moments of quiet as Lucas reached under the panel and made some adjustments. The sensor station sprung back into life.

'It didn't occur to anyone else to check the wiring? One of the connectors had come lose,' Lucas said as he wriggled back out from under the station.

'I remember some pretty explicit threats you made if I ever tried to fix this station myself after last time,' Miguel pointed out.

'Last time was a software programme, not even you could mess up a bit of simple re-wiring,' Lucas said, with a touch of a smile to lighten the words.

Miguel was about to return the teasing but Ford cut in before he could.

'Thank you, Lucas,' The dismissal was clear in Ford's tone of voice if not his words.

Lucas, unsurprised, nodded – too pleased to be able to get back to his work to take offence.

He had only just made it back to his room and switched the computer on when the connection to the Trewfori islands network activated. For several moments he sat contemplating his options, fingers tapping on the desk in time with his thoughts. He knew once he started working on the problem he wouldn't want to break away from it until he was finished. Much better to carry on the work for his father and make sure the first set of results were ready to send off when they were expected – the Captain would never know he hadn't started working on the Trewfori thing straight away.

He opened the files from his father and settled down to his work again. Most of it was simple enough stuff – simple for Lucas at least. Some programming, some bug finding, a few sets of calculations and some results to analyse. It was all things he'd done before, and to some extent things that left a little bit of his brain free to think about other things but Lucas forced himself to concentrate for a few minutes, applying his entire mind to the job. After a few minutes the tunnel vision descended and Lucas's concentration stopped being forced and became his normal habit.

* * *

The knock on his door finally penetrated the once more blaring music. Lucas turned down the volume and called for the knocker to come in.

Ben looked around the door. 'Hi, Lucas.'

'I thought you were going to stay on the island all day?' Lucas said, unable to hide his surprise and disappointment at seeing his friend back so soon.

'All day has been and gone, Lucas, its gone 21:00. You ready for something to eat?'

'Actually, I've already-'

'No, you haven't – you didn't even know what time it is, I'll put money on it that you haven't left that computer all day.'

'You'd lose,' Lucas said cheerfully.

'What broke?' Ben asked, obviously none too impressed.

'What makes you assume-' he stopped as he saw the disbelieving look on Ben's face, 'the sensors were playing up,' he admitted.

'Uh-ha! Well, I'm going to get out of this suit – I'll expect to see you in the mess hall when I get there.'

Lucas nodded, waited until Ben closed the door behind him and then swung back around and began to type frantically. Damn it, he should have set an alarm before he started working. He saved his work and opened the connection to the Trewfori system.

Maybe he could make enough progress on it to make it look like he had been doing his job while the others had been off the boat. The connection up and running Lucas hunted for the virus. Running a few of his own virus detection programmes in the background he began a manual search at the same time.

The so called experts had looked for weeks and missed this? Less than twenty minutes after the door had closed behind Ben Lucas was staring at the virus. It might as well have had flashing lights on every line of it. A few minutes after that Lucas sat in frustration looking at the screen. Great – why couldn't it be something normal? It wasn't a common type of virus, which was probably why the other men had missed it, but Lucas had written a few similar ones in his time and knew what the signs had ment as soon as he saw them.

Getting rid of the virus wouldn't be difficult - monotonous and time consuming, definitely, but not difficult. Still, with any luck he could train a dozen or more technicians to do the grunt work and he'd be back to doing something more interesting in a few days. The strangest thing about the coding for the virus was the entire absence of a signature. What sort of Hacker did all this and then left before signing his work? One thing was sure – it wasn't the work of any of the well knowns, Lucas would have spotted the work of anyone with a reputation even if they hadn't put a signature on it.

He didn't bother to answer the knock on his door. Hopefully whoever it was would assume he was out and go away – it usually worked when he didn't have the music on loud enough to penetrate the walls. The door opened without invitation.

'Hi, Lucas,' Ben said.

'I… um… I thought I was going to meet you in the mess?' Lucas said.

'Good job I know you well enough to come and fetch you then,' Ben said, 'save it and leave – it will still be there after you've eaten.'

Lucas argued, but it was only a token protest carried out more for form than for any real reason.

They were still cheerfully bickering with each other when they reached the mess hall and took the two empty seats around the same table as the rest of the senior crew.

'So, did you guys enjoy your little holiday?' Lucas asked as he sat down.

'If that was a holiday, I'd rather be working! Sitting around listening to suits talking in a language I don't even understand is not my idea of fun.' Crocker told him.

'At least they let you in. I don't think they liked me a lot,' Tim said. 'I couldn't even get into most of the meetings – They said I wasn't mature enough to do the job!'

'Tell me about it!' Lucas muttered, half under his breath, Tim sitting opposite him smile his understanding.

'I think, tomorrow you'd better start working on some of the files – translating them so we can start to find out what is going on. No point you coming back to the island with us.' Bridger told O'Neill.

Tim nodded, for once glad to be left on seaQuest when others were going ashore.

'I don't suppose I could…' Ben began.

'Not a chance, Kreig – or should I say Mr. Wolenczak. You are the reason for all of us to be there.'

'Did anyone question who you were?' Lucas asked – curious to find out how Ben had liked being him for the day.

'They just dumped me in front of a computer and left me to it,' Ben said, 'they didn't even have solitaire on the damn thing!' He caught Lucas's look. 'Don't worry – I ran that disk you gave me to make it look like I was doing something – your reputation is safe with me.'

'What about you, Lucas, any luck finding that virus?' Bridger asked.

'Yea,' Lucas said, 'it wasn't that difficult to find, if you know what signs to look for.'

'Can you get rid of it?' Ben asked.

Lucas nodded. 'It's a simple enough job – time consuming though.' He was just about to put forward his idea of training up a team of people to work on it when Bridger spoke up first.

'Good, we don't want you to fix it too quickly. The whole idea is to give ourselves as much time in the system as possible so we have a chance to find out what is actually going on with this situation.'

'That won't be a problem,' Luca tried again, but again the Cpatin cut him off before he could reach his point.

'Well, just pace yourself, OK Kiddo, the UEO has us down to remain here for the next few weeks.'

'A few weeks?' Lucas asked, thinking about how many people he would want on the job if they were going to finish that quickly, six, eight? Bridger obviously had a different definition of time consuming than Lucas did if he thought it ment a job that takes a few days.

'Like I said, you'll have to pace yourself. It's good to know we can rely on you for this sort of thing, Lucas. Any other computer guy and we'd have had to put half the crew onto the project to help you.'

'Maybe not half,' Lucas said, 'but-' yet again he wasn't destined to finish his sentence.

'Just bringing one more person onto the project with you would be a nightmare. I'd be filling in triplicates for weeks to bring them up to the right security level to work on it.'

'They wouldn't have to be cleared to know what the UEO suspects or anything like that,' Lucas said, trying to keep the hope out of his voice, 'they wouldn't be able to read the files, just the coding behind the files.'

'You might understand that, but the UEO wouldn't. I'm just glad you can do the project on your own.'

'Yea, Captain, that is really great news,' Lucas said, stabbing his fork into his food with more violence than was strictly necessary.

To be continued…

* * *

Hope your enjoying it so far. Let me know in a review.

Cadi.


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry it took me so long (over a year!) to get this chapter finished - I've been distracted by a lot of other projects. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I don't own anyone or anything mentioned in the story.

**Chapter 7.**

'I should be able to get it to you by…' Lucas tried to work it out. He had very little idea what day it was. Each one blurred into the next without sleep to divide them neatly. '… the end of next week,' he hazarded, mentally reviewing all the projects demanding his attention.

'What? Lucas this is urgent!'

Lucas resisted the urge to sigh and looked at the read outs from the station. 'If I get time, I'll try to fit it in before then,' he offered.

'Thanks for nothing, kid.'

Lucas only sighed when the researcher was out of ear shot. He watched as the programme once more reached the third stage of the simulation and crashed. Yes, it probably was important. Just like everything everyone wanted him to do was important.

Just like his father's work was important. And the Captain's work was important. And Dr. Westphalen's work was important. And…

Everyone's work was important; Lucas wished he didn't have to do so much of it for them. He scrubbed at his eyes with his knuckles and pushed a hand through his hair. What was he supposed to be doing now? He looked at the machine in front of him. Was this actually more important than the other things on his list?

Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to make a list and prioritise. If he did that then perhaps he could stop everything circling in his mind. Reaching out to shut down the defective programme Lucas straightened his knuckles and his fingers reminded him why typing continuously for twenty four hours wasn't smart. He flexed his fingers, circled his wrists and tried to convince the muscles and joints to co-operate.

He would just drop into the mess and grab something to eat and then he would get back to work. It wasn't exactly an appetising sight but Lucas took a plate of whatever it was and sat wearily at an empty table.

'Lucas?'

He turned in his chair. 'Yeah?'

'That security programme?'

'Yeah, Chief, I haven't forgotten about it,' Lucas promised.

'Well, see that you don't kid. I'm counting on you for this.'

Lucas nodded and turned back to his food.

'Just the person I wanted to see!'

Lucas turned again. He agreed to help with that person's project but when the third officer approached his table Lucas lost his appetite. He emptied his nearly full plate into the trash on the way out. Maybe when he caught up with some projects he would find a time when he could eat in peace.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'I thought you said it would be finished by today,' the lieutenant complained.

'I said that I would try to get to it by today,' Lucas corrected as mildly as he could.

'But you didn't.'

The teenager tried to keep his temper. 'Look, I'm sorry. But this isn't the only project that I have on the go!'

He knew as soon as the words left his mouth that he should have counted to ten more far more slowly or in a different language. 'Just forget it kid, if you can't even handle a little programming job to help a buddy out…' and the lieutenant stormed off.

Lucas resisted the urge to bang his head on the table. Instead, he reached into his shirt pocket and looked over his list. It ran to several pages. Sometimes it was tempting to move the people who complained the loudest to the top but… Lucas sighed. What was he supposed to be working on now?

The figures that his father had sent him and the Trewfori project were the most important projects. But that they were both big projects. If he concentrated on them other things would just going to get added to the list ad infinitum without anything being crossed off, ever.

Would it be so bad to reorganise his priorities?

Lucas looked for the quickest project on the list. That wouldn't take long. He made his way to the bridge.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Half an hour later Lucas crawled out of the space under the coms unit.

'Try it now?' he suggested.

Tim tapped in a few buttons above him. 'Its working fine now,' he said. 'Thanks Lucas.'

Lucas smiled and for the first time in days it felt genuine. Why was Tim the only one who ever said thank you? 'You're welcome.'

'You look terrible,' Tim announced.

That actually brought a chuckle out of Lucas. 'Thanks.'

'You should get some sleep.'

Lucas shrugged. 'I'll add it to my list of things to do.' The idea appealed. Then sleep could theoretically reach the top of the list. But it wouldn't make the top ten at the moment.

'How's the work on the virus going?'

Lucas shrugged; 'slow, boring, monotonous.'

Tim smiled sympathetically.

'I should get back to it. Give me a shout if it starts acting up again?'

Tim nodded. Then a call came through and his attention was back on his job like a well trained officer.

Lucas nodded to the back of Tim's head and went back to his own work.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'I don't know what's got into him lately,' the Chief said as Bridger and Westphalen joined him at a table in the mess.

'Who's this?' Bridger asked.

'Lucas. He's been promising to finish this programme for weeks but I can't even get a firm completion date from him. I know he's a just kid but…'

'Same here,' Miguel said as he scooped up a large forkful of replicated mashed potatoes. 'The bug at the sensor station is driving me insane.'

Ford nodded. 'Everyone's saying the same, sir. I don't know what Lucas is doing with his time but it isn't his work. No-one wants to complain about him, Captain, but he's behind on every project he's involved with.'

'He fixed the new programme on the comms station yesterday,' Tim O'Neil offered. No-one paid any attention.

'Perhaps he's spending his time in the science department,' Ford hazarded with a glance towards Westphalen.

Kristen hesitated. 'I hate to admit it but he's rather behind with his work there too. Several of the scientists have had projects delayed. I thought he was working on this island virus?'

Bridger shook his head. 'That's just a simple job. I'll talk to him.'

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Lucas looked one of the programmes for his father. It was just about finished. One more run through to check for bugs; then he would start analysing the numbers. He initiated the programme and leaned back in his chair.

He closed his eyes. A few minutes later he snapped them open. That was a bad idea. Lucas couldn't afford to fall asleep yet. He groped blindly at the nearest shelf for something to read while the last few minutes of the programme ran.

The first thing to hand was a game. Lucas had played it often enough to be bored by it but he forced his eyes to stay open and follow the words on the back of the box one line at a time.

Someone knocked on the hatch. He put the box down and turned from his desk. 'Come in.'

'Lucas,' Bridger greeted as he ducked in.

'Captain?'

Bridger looked around the chaos and Lucas followed the glare. Cleaning his room was never going to make it to the top of the list. He hadn't even bothered putting it on the bottom.

'What are you working on?'

Lucas wasn't called a genius for nothing; the Captain didn't need to know about the work he was doing for his father. 'Nothing much.'

'Good game?' Bridger asked.

Lucas saw looked at the box in the middle of his desk. He shrugged. 'It's okay.'

'More fun than the programming jobs everyone's waiting for?'

Lucas shifted uncomfortably and then really uncomfortably as his back muscles protested being hunched over the keyboard for so long.

'I know the games are more interesting, kiddo, but if you want to be treated like an adult member of this crew then you have to step up and do the work.'

'Captain, I…' Lucas trailed off. What could he really say?

Bridger shook his head anyway. 'No excuses, Lucas.'

Lucas sighed, 'yes, sir.' The one thing Bridger did have in common with his father – neither of them liked hearing excuses, even when they were actually good reasons.

'Until you prove trust worthy you can log you're working hours in with Ford.'

'But Captain…'

'No buts,' Bridger interrupted. 'I know you don't like it, but I don't have time to chase you up on things like this. If it's too much for you I could always get someone else to take over…'

Lucas shook his head quickly and blinked back the dizziness it caused. 'I'll get it done,' he promised.

'See that you do kiddo.'

When the Captain left Lucas closed his eyes. That talk cured the sleepiness. Lucas had never felt more motivated. He couldn't let anyone down. He turned back to the programme for his father.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'I think it's a cry for attention. Going back to the island every day, I haven't been spending as much time with him as usual.'

Westphalen nodded. 'I've barely left Med bay. Half the crew are accident prone at the moment. I still should have made more of an effort to look in on him.'

Bridger sighed and nodded in his turn. 'It's not fair on the child being down here but still…'

Westphalen thought for a few moments. 'Would I be right to say he's significantly worse since his shore leave? Or, more precisely, since he saw his father?'

Bridger couldn't deny it. 'Maybe they argued and this is just an extended sulking session,' he hoped.

'A teenager overreacting? Nathan! How could you think such a thing?'

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Lucas flexed his fingers and inspected his hands. The finger tips weren't bleeding but they felt like they were. His wrists ached every time he moved them. He winced but he tried to go back to his typing.

Denial kept the pain at bay for a few days but it wasn't working any more. His back ached from sitting at his desk. His eyes itched from staring at the screen. Lucas was sixteen years old and falling to pieces.

The particular programme running had twenty minutes to complete. Maybe if he took a few aspirin that would see him clear through the rest of tonight. And maybe tomorrow he could catch up on a bit of sleep.

Med bay was a dangerous section of the ship. Dr Westphalen was always lurking around there lately. Lucas slipped out of his room and kept his head down. Maybe he could get there and back without picking up any more assignments.

He did make it there and he let out a sigh of relief when he realised that the bay was temporarily empty. The electronic locks only took a moment then Lucas inspected the content of the medical cabinet.

It took longer than he expected to read through all the labels and find something he recognised. It was stronger than the aspirin he wanted but that was a probably a good thing. He forced his fingers to cooperate and wrap around the bottle.

A peek outside the door and he was gone before anyone knew he was there.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Commander Ford didn't need to know about certain things. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Lucas looked at the empty work log and tried to decide what he should fill it up with.

While the truth was easy to remember, lies were sometimes easier to live with. He filled in the sections where he should have slept and eaten with the appropriate information. What else had he done? He'd fitted in a few of smaller jobs again. They hadn't taken him long, but…

A quick check on the boat's computer and he found out how long they should have taken a technician and used those times. It made the chart look a lot better. He added a few sessions working on the Trewfori project in to finish it off. Yes, looked sensible.

Was Ford gullible enough to accept it? Lucas pushed a hand through his hair and wished he had time to worry about it.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'You look terrible.'

A lot of people said that to Lucas lately.

'Thanks Captain,' Lucas said, but there was no bite to the words. That would require an expenditure of energy that just didn't exist in him. 'What do you want?'

Bridger raised an eyebrow at him and cleared a space to sit on the end of his bed. 'What you are working on at the moment?'

'Why don't you just ask Ford?'

'I'm asking you.'

'Well, I gave him all my records and stuff. You should look at them.'

He kept on fielding the questions until the Captain gave up and went away. Resting his head on the desk for a few moments Lucas took several deep breaths. It was much easier to lie to Ford to the Captain.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Bridger stood in the ward room and looked over the work sheets Ford handed him. 'Everything seems to be in order,' he said with a frown.

Westphalen looked over his shoulder. 'Eight hours sleep and three meals a day? Lucas gave you this? On what planet?'

'I assume the talk with the Captain shocked him into good behaviour for a little while. It won't last.'

Bridger smiled. 'Probably not,' he continued to study the activity reports. 'There's something wrong with these, I just don't know what… I'll try talking to him. again Something is obviously bothering him and I'm starting it's more than a teenage temper tantrum.'

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

'Hi Kiddo.'

Lucas looked up from under one of the terminals in engineering. 'Captain? I'm just finishing up.'

Bridger waited until he emerged and as Lucas shuffled out, the Captain took the opportunity to study him.

Dark circles framed under his eyes and his hair, still too long for a navy sub, looked messier than usual.

'You never told me how things went on shore leave,' Bridger began.

Lucas shrugged.

'Well, Kiddo?'

'What do you want to know? We went, we had a good time, and we came back.'

'You saw your father while you were there,' Bridger said.

Lucas's eyes flashed up at him. Obviously the meeting hadn't gone smoothly. Lucas just shrugged.

'How is he?'

'He's fine.'

'Did you get to spend much time together?'

'The usual.'

'Do you miss him?'

'Not really.'

'What about when you're here, do you hear from him? I know he's very busy with his work.'

'Everyone is.'

'Are you going to limit yourself to two words per answer?' Bridger asked. Getting blood out of a stone would be easier.

'Very probably,' Lucas said. His attention was all on the terminals readings.

The Captain shook his head and left him to it.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Lucas snuck into the medical bay to refill his unofficial prescription. Hearing voices he stole behind a bulkhead and eavesdropped. He didn't have the energy to feel guilty about it.

'I might send him up world for a while.' That was Bridger's voice – Lucas would know it anywhere.

'You think that's a good idea?' And that was Westphalen's crisp British accent.

'I think it might be unavoidable,' said Bridger. 'The way things are currently… we always knew that a UEO submarine wasn't the place for someone Lucas's age.'

'Where will he go?'

'To his father,' Lucas made an effort not to laugh at that idea. He didn't want to be found. But did Bridger really think that his father wanted him around? Lucas knew he was useful enough, but who wanted a teenage genius around steeling the spotlight? His father would have him packed off somewhere the day after Lucas landed on his doorstep.

'Are you sure that's a good idea?' Westphalen asked.

'I don't know,' Lucas heard Bridger admit. 'But I don't have a better one. And things can't continue as they are.'

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Lucas crept away from the door. He'd get the tablets another time. Right now, he had to get back to work. He'd thought that he was almost on top of the work now but he was obviously very wrong.

He reached Mammal Engineering and pulled his list out of the draw. Sure, there were still a few projects that were outstanding but… but obviously that wasn't good enough. If he wanted to keep his place on the boat he would have to come up to make sure no-one could find fault with any of his work.

Lucas wasn't going to give anyone an excuse to kick him off the boat.

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Thanks for reading. Please leave a reiew if you liked it - or even if you didn't. There's only one chapter left to go. It's written. I'll edit and post it here by the end of the month.

Cadi.


	8. Chapter 8

Sorry it's a few days later than planned. But it is finally complete! Thank you to every one who reviewed the last chapter, or any of the earlier chapters. It's great to know there are people out there reading. As always, the characters are not my own and I don't make any money.

**Chapter 8**

Bridger looked over the figures had Ford received from Lucas every day just he'd ordered. Something was wrong with them. But the longer he spent staring at list of times and duties the more and more he failed to work out what that wrong something was.

The boy was sleeping. He was eating. He was working on all the right projects and doing all the right things. It just wasn't easy to fit Lucas into that role.

'Commander, how long should it take someone to realign the sensors on Jr.?'

'Two hours, sir, I checked all the time logs against the UEO standards…' as he said it Bridger felt the final pieces of the puzzle click into place.

'Since when does Lucas do anything that is standard?' Westphalen asked.

'And the rest of this fabrication is probably just as accurate,' Bridger slapped the files down on his desk.

'Which means?' the doctor prompted.

'I have no idea,' Bridger said, 'but I intend to find out right now!'

He reached Mammal Engineering and threw the door open within a minute.

Bridger saw Lucas scramble to switch the screen off and spin around as the door thudded against the bulkhead. The teenager looked even worse than the last time the Captain saw him.

'Switch the screen back on,' he ordered. If Lucas didn't want him to see it then that was where he should start this interrogation.

'What?' Lucas asked.

'Switch the computer screen back on,' the Captain repeated.

'Why?'

'Because I told you to.'

'And that's a good reason?' Lucas demanded.

'Right here, right now, while I'm your Captain, you bet it is, kiddo.'

Lucas's jaw set.

Okay, diplomacy. Bridger could do that if he really had to. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he counted to ten.

'There's nothing that can be on the screen that could shock me,' Bridger said. Please let it be nothing more sinister than a dirty web site. That would be so easy to deal with. He'd had that conversation with Robert a long time ago. He could do that conversation without blinking.

Lucas blushed and turned away. 'It's just a project I'm working on. It's nothing to do with you.'

'Something you don't think I would approve of?' Bridger guessed.

Lucas shrugged.

'Switch the screen back on,' Bridger told him again.

Lucas sighed. 'Captain, I'm catching up with everything that I fell behind on. It won't happen again.'

'That's good to know, but it doesn't explain what's wrong with you lately.'

'Nothing is wrong,' Lucas said, he pushed his hair back out of his eyes and then rubbed a hand across his eyes in a move filled with exhaustion.

'You should stick to the truth, kiddo, it's easier to remember. Besides you're a terrible liar.'

Lucas sighed. 'You just never give up do you? If you want me off the boat, just transfer me and get it over with. You don't have to look for excuses.'

Bridger found himself momentarily lost for words. His mouth opened and closed with such a good impersonation of a tuna fish even Darwin might have been fooled. 'You don't want to stay on the boat?'

He watched the moment where Lucas's tight hold on his temper slipped from his tired grip. 'Does it matter?' the teenager shouted. 'It didn't matter to my father when he sent me here, and it doesn't matter to you now. One thing about my father – at least he had the balls not to try and pretend otherwise.'

'You didn't answer the question,' Bridger pointed out, 'do you want to stay on the boat?'

Lucas's eyes really flashed at that. 'Sorry, Captain, begging never has been my style. I'll start packing my things.'

'Yes or no, Lucas; Do you want to stay on the boat?'

'Yes! Okay? Are you happy now? Just leave me alone!' turning his back on his Captain, he grabbed his bag and began stuffing things in it at random.

He threw open several drawers and grabbed at the content. As the clutter shifted under his hands several packets of pain killers were revealed. Bridger pick one of them up. 'Lucas?'

Lucas didn't say anything.

A shot of pure dread shot through the Captain. 'What are these?'

Lucas glanced over his shoulder. 'Read the label,' he snapped.

'And just what did you intend to do with them?' Bridger tried to swallow but his mouth was dry. He knew that Lucas hadn't been that happy lately but he had never thought… it had never occurred to him that Lucas might be that depressed.

Lucas laughed. 'Don't flatter yourself, Captain. My father didn't manage to drive me that far in sixteen years, you certainly didn't manage it as many months, even with half the UEO helping you.' He paused for a moment and the Captain saw him weigh up if he should continue or not.

He saw the decision in Lucas's eyes as that stabbed back towards him. 'When the next idiot to do my job boards, make sure he knows what he is letting himself in for,' he took a pad of paper from another draw and flung it at Bridger. 'You were so proud of working out the ones I gave Ford were fiction? That's the real version, Captain. Before you pack me off you might want to take a moment and work out how many people you'll need to replace me.'

Bridger caught the pad. He scanned the first page and then the second. 'When was the last time you slept?' he asked as he flicked through page after page.

Lucas gave another of those bitter, humourless laughs. 'That's that thing where you actually lie down on a bed and close your eyes for more than five minutes, right? You'll have to refresh my memory – it was that long ago.'

'If you had too much work…' Bridger began.

'Then what?' Lucas demanded.

'I could have changed that,' Bridger said.

'What would have changed? Would my father have stopped sending me work? Would the UEO keep our science budget going? Would you start on all the paper work to add one more man to the project? Would the computers stop breaking down? Would the scientists learn to work their own equipment? Yes, please tell me, Captain, what would have been so different if I had told you that I'm doing the work of a dozen men and usually more?'

'I would have found a way to help you,' Bridger said.

'I found my own ways,' Lucas said, he picked up a packet of the painkillers and tossed them at the Captain. 'These are all empty,' he said, 'because even I can't type for days straight without something to ease the pain.'

'Dr Westphalen?' Bridger began.

Lucas laughed. 'Who do you think set the electronic locks on the security systems in med bay, Captain? There isn't anywhere on this boat that I can't get into.'

'You took these from med bay?'

'Yes,' there was no guilt in the teenager's voice.

Bridger rubbed his own eyes in unconscious imitation of Lucas's new habit and let out a sigh. 'Sit down.'

Lucas stayed standing. Bridger pushed some of the junk off his bed onto the crowded floor and sat down. He tapped the bed next to him. With obvious reluctance Lucas sat.

'You could have come to me with this,' the Captain said.

'And had another, you're a genius Lucas or, you're a member of this crew Lucas, or whatever, lecture? I didn't have time to sit through any of your talks.'

Bridger still flicked through the reports Lucas had submitted to Ford. 'No wonder you're exhausted,' he observed.

Lucas snorted and slumped back against the bulkhead.

'Does your father always send you this much work?'

Lucas shrugged sleepily. 'When he thinks I'm slacking he does.'

'I thought you missed him?'

Lucas blinked at him, 'why would I miss him?'

'You've been different since you saw him on shore leave.'

'Apparently people who have time to go to the Pleasure dome aren't working hard enough to reach their full potential,' Lucas shrugged. 'I appeared to have time on my hands. He filled it up. And then there was this programme to write before they cut the science budget and then there was the Trewfori project and…' he trailed off making it quite clear he could carry on the list if he had the inclination or the energy. He shrugged again.

Bridger looked at the lists and all the hours Lucas had already devoted to Trewfori. 'I thought you were going to go slow on the Trewfori project?'

Lucas gave a heart hearted laugh. 'You really have no idea just how long a time consuming programming job takes, do you? Even at this rate I'll be lucky if I finish it in months.'

'Why didn't you tell me?'

'I did tell you, you just didn't want to hear me. You just decided I was slacking off and to get rid of me,' he glanced very briefly at his Captain, 'I heard you and Westphalen plotting in med bay.'

'I wasn't talking about sending you off the boat for ever, Lucas. Just an extended period of shore leave.'

Lucas shrugged again but the nonchalance was obviously fake. 'Whatever.'

'I think it is a better idea for you to remain on the boat and for us to keep a proper eye on you,' Bridger said. He didn't miss the happiness in Lucas's eyes, but he still wasn't surprised when he heard Lucas's next words.

'I'm not a child, I don't need someone to baby sit me.' But the words were already half slurred with sleep and Lucas's head was slumping towards the pillow.

Bridger stood up and as Lucas dropped into a sound sleep the Captain picked his feet up and put him to lie properly on the bed.

He looked around and found a blanket to tuck around him. Lucas lay though it all dead to the world. Bridger saw Darwin in the aqua tube and picked up the vo-corder.

'Darwin? Watch Lucas. If he wakes up come and get me.'

Darwin nodded. 'Lucas sick.'

Bridger looked back down at the exhausted boy. 'Yes, but we're going to make sure he gets better real soon.'

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

All the senior members of the crew bar one sat around the table in the ward room. Captain Bridger waited with forced patience until they were all sitting comfortably before he stood up to address them.

'Where's Lucas?' Ford asked as he noticed the teenagers chair conspicuously empty.

'Lucas is sleeping?'

Ford frowned, 'I thought this was his shift?'

'Apparently it is always Lucas's shift.' He began handing out copies of Lucas's accurate activity reports and then watched as they read through them in silence.

'This can't be right,' Katie said. 'No-one could keep going like this!'

'Correct. It isn't right and Lucas can't keep going like this. He is under the impression his place on the boat depends upon his doing every single thing that everyone asks of him.'

Crocker shook his head, 'that's not right, Cap, he doesn't do everything…' but he trailed off.

'Would someone like to tell me the last time Lucas failed to do a project someone asked for his help on?'

Glanced past back and forth across the table but no-one had an answer they wanted to share.

'When was the last time any of us asked if he had time to do something rather than assume because of his status as a civilian and his intelligence he had the time and the skills to do anything involving a computer chip?'

He looked around the guilty faces. 'It stops now. Military and science. It stops now. Lucas doesn't do any jobs; he isn't approached to do any jobs, without someone clearing it through either Ford or Dr Westphalen. That includes any projects from outside the boat. I don't care if we have to cut off his access to the outside world and monitor every move he makes on board; he is no longer to only go to man on the boat.'

Ford cleared his throat. 'Captain, with all due respect, how? How do we monitor someone who designs the systems that monitor everyone on the boat?

'Believe it or not, we are the best the UEO has to offer. We are the flag ship, the pick of the crop and every other metaphor you can think of. We can, between us all, supervise one teenage boy.'

They all looked at each other. They could?

…………………………………………………………………………………………..

Lucas blinked his eyes open. His automatic reaction was to throw himself out of bed and into his computer chair.

How could he have let himself fall asleep like that? He halted half way though his movement and only just prevented himself from landing in the Captain's lap.

'Captain?' the events of the previous night came back to him.

'Lucas,' Bridger greeted calmly.

Lucas watched him warily. That had been quite a tantrum he had thrown the previous night. He waited to be told his fate. The older man didn't say anything.

'Captain?' he repeated again.

Bridger handed him a clip board with activity rosters on it. Lucas glanced at them, saw his name at the top and studied them more closely. Next to each activity was a second name. 'You're kidding?'

Bridger shook his head. 'From now on you are on medically reduced workload; you only do the work on that sheet. That means you will be where the sheet says you are to be when it says you are to be. If it says you are to be in the mess hall, you will be there, and you'll find someone – the names on the sheet should give you a clue who – there to make sure you are. If you are working in the science labs you will check in with Dr Westphalen, if you are working on a military project you will check in with Commander Ford.'

'But…' Lucas looked at the sheet in horror.

'When you are asleep you'll find someone keeping an eye on you,' Bridger nodded to the aqua tube where Darwin bobbed happily in the water.'

'You're making me have a dolphin as a baby sitter?' he demanded.

'No, you now have an a whole boat full of baby sitters – until I decide that you can be trusted to manage your work load on your own.'

'Wouldn't it just be easier to put a tracker on me so you know where I am in the boat?' Lucas asked with all the innocence a teenager can muster.

'No, since our resident computer expert is on reduced workload, I decided to go low tech on this project. And just so you know I'm serious,' Bridger added. 'The first time you break these rules I'll have Chief Crocker lock you in the brig.'

'What happens the second time?' Lucas asked cautiously.

'I'll have you confined to Med bay. Dr Westphalen takes the medically part of medically reduced work loads very seriously. And it would be terrible if someone felt they had to point out where certain of her medical supplies went missing to…' Bridger trailed off managing to sound far more innocent than Lucas ever had.

Lucas thought about that. He thought about the Doctor's likely reaction. He looked at his Captain and conceded with a nod. 'You fight dirty.'

The End.

Thank you for reading. Do leave a review regardless of what you thought. I don't mind critisism.

The last two chapters of Alcatraz will be posted up as soon as possible.

Cadi.


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